Democrats are trying to reverse a safe Republican seat in the special election to replace former Rep. Tom Price by leveraging President Donald Trump’s low approval numbers, according to a recent analysis by statistics site 538.
The race to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District is one of the top races to watch, according to the site. Trump narrowly defeated former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the district, much lower than Price’s 62 percent win.
Normally, a generic Republican would take on the race, but Georgia has a very peculiar primary system called the “jungle primary.” In a “jungle primary,” all candidates run, and only the top two candidates face off in the run-off election two months later.
“The special election in Georgia’s 6th district could be our first real test of whether Democrats can make inroads into traditionally red districts that were wary of Trump,” 538’s Harry Enten said about the race.
There are currently 11 announced candidates on the Republican ticket, and five Democrats. Democrats believe if they can compare all of the Republicans candidates with Trump they will be able to divide the party just enough to install a Democrat, according to an Associated Press report released last Wednesday.
Republicans have held the seat with at least a 60 percent majority since 2000, but several distinct segments of the Republican coalition have their own candidate. Bruce LeVell worked on the Trump campaign, and is one of the two candidates running on a pro-Trump platform.
Former Secretary of State in Georgia Karen Handel is also running, along with several current and former state senators.
Democrats have largely coalesced behind Jon Ossoff, who was endorsed by The Daily Kos as well as Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson and John Lewis.
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