Consultant Lucy McBath, a Democrat who in 2018 narrowly upset the Republican Karen Handel in a Republican stronghold, gained re-election early Wedn
Consultant Lucy McBath, a Democrat who in 2018 narrowly upset the Republican Karen Handel in a Republican stronghold, gained re-election early Wednesday in a rematch that underscored the altering demographics — and anti-Trump fervor — in Atlanta’s suburbs.
The victory cemented Democratic management of part of the Deep South that younger, educated and nonwhite voters have reshaped as they diversified Georgia’s prosperous Sixth Congressional District, which is among the many finest educated within the nation. Greater than 72 % white within the 2010 census, the district was lower than 68 % white by 2017.
That yr, Republicans almost misplaced the seat in a traditionally costly particular election that Ms. Handel, a businesswoman and former Georgia secretary of state, gained by lower than 4 factors, changing into the primary Republican congresswoman in her state.
A yr later, nevertheless, the Democrats prevailed with Ms. McBath, a Black former flight attendant who had turn into a gun management activist after her teenage son was shot at a gasoline station in 2012 by a white man who had been complaining concerning the music her son and his buddies have been enjoying.
Ms. McBath’s 2018 victory over Ms. Handel shifted management of a district that former Speaker Newt Gingrich had represented, with the assistance of the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, for twenty years.
On this yr’s rematch, Ms. McBath, 60, once more drew on her private story, emphasizing gun management and well being care. She additionally trumpeted the bipartisan and White Home assist she had gotten in passing her HAVEN Act, which extends chapter protections to veterans.
Ms. Handel, 58, campaigned on a “regulation and order” platform, betting that top voter turnout in a presidential election would create the Republican margins essential to flip again the seat, and accusing Ms. McBath of embracing insurance policies that have been too far left.
However as polls confirmed Ms. McBath’s lead widening earlier than the vote, Ms. Handel’s monetary assist waned.
“What’s completely different now,” Ms. McBath advised The Atlanta Journal-Structure in September, “is we’ve got a report to indicate.”