Georgia’s 6th Congressional District has been all the lather in news circles since President Trump chose Tom Price to be U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The match-up has historic notes all over it: Karen Handel is the first woman ever elected to Congress from the state of Georgia, and the contest now holds the distinction of the most money ever spent on a congressional race. The Democrats brought in all of the standard big guns: Hollywood actors, major ad spending and well organized get-out-the-vote efforts, and still suffered their fifth special election defeat since November 2016.
The race wasn’t a total rout, with the Republican garnering 52 percent of the vote. However, Handel clearly bested Jon Ossoff in a highly educated, well-heeled part of Georgia that has traditionally gone for the Republican by margins of more than 20 percent. She did this with the media in opposition to her campaign and her opponent outspending her by a huge margin: Handel raised about $4.5 million to Ossoff’s staggering total of $23 million.
What you won’t hear in the media is how much Ossoff’s gun-grabbing endorsements harmed his chances. The radical gun control group Pride Fund to End Gun Violence endorsed him: “Jon Ossoff stands with the majority of American voters on the issue of gun violence. Ossoff will support common-sense background checks that keep Georgia communities safer.”
Ossoff realized that he was more liberal than the district would tolerate and attempted a moderate stance on a number of issues.Ossoff took the standard Democratic tack of claiming to have “grown up with guns,” while asserting that he is a supporter of the Second Amendment. Of course Ossoff also openly opposed campus carry for college students saying, “As we prepare young people in Georgia for the high-tech economy, they should be able to sit in class without worrying whether the student next to them has a Glock on their hip.” If that is Second Amendment support, we don’t need opposition.
Ossoff realized that he was more liberal than the district would tolerate and attempted a moderate stance on a number of issues. Ossoff’s confidence was so tenuous that he refused to debate Handel on CNN. In a televised debate Handel tied Ossoff to anti-Second Amendment purist Nancy Pelosi: “To think that a handpicked candidate from Nancy Pelosi is going to do anything other than go along to get along with the liberal left, that’s laughable.”
The National Rifle Association endorsed Karen Handel and awarded her with an A rating for her support and advocacy of the right to keep and bear arms. She opposes all new gun and ammunition bans and supports national reciprocity. She has served in numerous positions in state government, most recently as Secretary of State, where she opposed Obama-era policies that stripped the elderly and veterans of their gun rights. Residents of Georgia’s 6th knew Handel’s strong stance on guns well, and while turnout was lower than that of the November 2016 election, it was strong for a special election contest.
The media predicted that Ossoff would beat Handel by as many as 7 percentage points, repeating their fatal error of utilizing abysmally incorrect poll data of the same type that failed to predict an Electoral College sweep by then-candidate Trump. Television talking heads also repeatedly called the race a referendum on President Trump and his policies. A possible win by Ossoff was seen as a bellwether for Democrats to retake the House in the 2018 midterms. But for the fifth time, voters from across the country said “No.”
I sat in the audience at the NRA Annual Meetings in Atlanta and heard President Trump’s rousing endorsement of Handel and her Second Amendment credentials. The crowd was receptive, cheering his remarks on Handel. President Trump promised thousands in that auditorium that he would never fail to support the gun rights of Americans. Additionally, the president attended a campaign fundraiser for Handel while in town. The media’s attempt to tie her to President Trump as a negative to potential voters was useless, and voters saw right through it—just as they saw through Ossoff’s shifty language on guns.
Americans are actively opposing potential infringement on gun rights, seeking policies that will result in more freedom. The primary issues facing hard-working citizens aren’t going to be solved by a carpet-bagging elitist whose primary source of campaign funding is from activists on the Left Coast. Here’s to hoping that the media continues to incorrectly predict the intentions of voters into 2018 and beyond.
Stacy Washington is a decorated Air Force veteran, Emmy-nominated TV personality and host of nationally syndicated radio program “Stacy on the Right,” based in St. Louis. She loves God, guns, and is a member of the NRA, obviously.
