President Donald Trump knocked Democrats yesterday for obstructing his agenda, one day after a fellow Republican won a congressional race in Georgia that was widely seen as a referendum on his young, turbulent presidency.
Former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel on Tuesday defeated political newcomer Democrat Jon Ossoff, 52% to 48%.
The 4-point win in the most expensive congressional race in history was a blow to Democrats, who sought to wrest control of a suburban Atlanta district that Republicans have held since the 1970s.
The election will not significantly change the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Democrats on Tuesday also lost a special election in neighbouring South Carolina, where Republican Ralph Norman easily prevailed over Democrat Archie Parnell in a seat formerly held by Republican Mick Mulvaney, who is now Trump’s budget director.
The victories could boost Republicans’ confidence as they struggle to advance health and tax legislation that has been bogged down by infighting and investigations into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in last year’s presidential election.
“Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare,Tax Cuts,Security,” Trump said yesterday morning in a tweet after the election. “Obstruction doesn’t work!”
Republicans can also now breathe a sigh of relief with the knowledge that they can still win in the kind of affluent, educated districts that often favour Democrats — even with a president who has divided voters in their own party.
After Tuesday’s win, Handel thanked Trump at her victory rally.
“Tonight I stand before you, extraordinarily humbled and honoured at the tremendous privilege and high responsibility that you...have given me,” Handel told a boisterous crowd that chanted Trump’s name.
Ossoff initially campaigned on a promise to “make Trump furious” but more recently refrained from taking on the president as he tried to win over centrist voters. He had enlisted few prominent Democrats to campaign on his behalf.
Both candidates tried to focus on local issues and avoided mentioning Trump, whose approval rating sits at 37%, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
That did not stop Trump from weighing in on Twitter, urging voters to support Handel before the election and celebrating her victory afterwards.
“Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!” he posted Tuesday night. 
Spending on the race reached at least $57mn, nearly twice the previous record, according to the Center for Responsive Politics watchdog group. The special election was held to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price after Trump appointed him as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Democrats said they had turned a conservative stronghold into a competitive district.
“We showed the world that in places where no one thought it was even possible we could fight (that) we could fight,” Ossoff told supporters.
Still, the defeat was sure to prompt soul-searching in a party that is shut out of power in Washington and has steadily lost influence at the state level in recent years.
Despite spending more than $30mn, Ossoff lost the district by a wider margin than Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Democrats are 0 for 4 in congressional elections this year, having earlier lost races in Kansas and Montana.
“All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0,” Trump wrote on Twitter overnight.
Handel’s win marked an impressive rebound from polling that showed her narrowly trailing her rival as the vote approached, and signalled that Republican disillusionment about Trump was not as deep as Democrats were counting on.
The result comes as relief for Republicans who had grown concerned about whether their party, buffeted by the scandals that have plagued the Republican president, could hold the seat in Georgia’s sixth district, which became the most expensive congressional race in US history.
While the White House had played down the national importance of the Georgia race, Trump had gone all in on Handel, and the Republican Party no doubt sees the victory as a shot in the arm as it prepares to fight to preserve its control of Congress in next year’s mid-term elections.
“Tonight, the people of Georgia’s sixth district overwhelmingly voted not only for Karen, but also for President Trump’s agenda of replacing our broken healthcare system, reforming an outdated tax code, and prioritising infrastructure investment,” said Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
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