Georgia voters headed to the polls on Tuesday in a heavily fought special election that Democrats see as an early referendum on President Trump.
There are 18 candidates on the ballot in the primary election to fill the House seat vacated by Rep. Tom Price after his appointment as Trump’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, but all eyes are on Democrat John Ossoff – including Trump’s.
Illustrating the stakes, Trump has recorded robocalls and taken to Twitter to encourage voters in the district just north of Atlanta to oppose Ossoff.
“Democrat Jon Ossoff would be a disaster in Congress. VERY weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. Say NO,” Trump wrote on Tuesday, one in a series of tweets issued over the last several days.
On Monday, Ossoff downplayed Trump’s involvement in the election.
“While I’m glad the President is interested in the race, he is misinformed,” Ossoff said in a statement. “I’m focused on bringing fresh leadership, accountability and bipartisan problem solving to Washington to cut wasteful spending and grow metro Atlanta’s economy into the Silicon Valley of the South.”
Ossoff, who has raised $8.3 million this quarter, is backed by major Democratic groups hoping to flip the Republican seat in a district Trump won by fewer than 2 percentage points.
“We’ve got a shot at an upset,” Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) told the Washington Post . “ It’s like what we’re seeing all around, this backlash. The protests, the marches. Democrats want to make a statement.”
The race has also attracted many GOP-leaning PACs that have spent about $4 million on attack ads against the 30-year-old former congressional staffer and documentary filmmaker.
Polls show Ossoff leading the bunch, but still lacking the 50 percent mark that would end the need for a runoff with the top Republican candidate on June 20.
Karen Handel, Georgia’s former secretary of state, the closest GOP candidate to Ossoff, said she thinks Republican voters will not allow him to reach a majority and force a runoff.
“Republican voters are not going to sit by and let this district go to a Democrat,” she said.
The polls close at 7 p.m.
In another closely watched race, Republican Ron Estes won a special election in Kansas last week to fill the seat held by Mike Pompeo who became Trump’s CIA director.
But his single-digit victory didn’t come close to the 27 percent margin Trump won the district by in November.