On Tuesday, Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff will face off in the Georgia special election runoff for Health Secretary Tom Price’s vacated seat. In a political environment where every Congressional seat counts, this hotly-contested race has recently seen Ossoff building a moderate lead that has narrowed slightly, thereby ensuring that the election could be a squeaker for the state’s sixth district. Will Handel’s comment about not supporting a livable wage affect results? Regardless of whether it will, a GOP district chair did his best to provide his own incendiary comment during what’s essentially the eleventh hour.
Brad Carver, who’s the GOP Chair in a neighboring district (not the one that Ossoff and Handel are battling for), dropped an unsavory reference regarding the recent congressional baseball field shooting that hospitalized House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others. According to the Washington Post, Carver spoke candidly (following a Saturday rally) about his belief that this tragedy would help Republicans take a sixth-district victory for Handel:
“I’ll tell you what: I think the shooting is going to win this election for us. Because moderates and independents in this district are tired of left-wing extremism. I get that there’s extremists on both sides, but we are not seeing them. We’re seeing absolute resistance to everything this president does. Moderates and independents out there want to give him a chance. Democrats have never given this president a chance.”
Carver wasn’t done yet. He predicted (like most others) that this race will be a close one and then circled back to the shooting:
“The trend lines are looking good for us .. It’s not going to be a blowout. It’ll be close, but we’ll win it. And I really do think the congressional baseball shooting is going to decide the election.”
Yikes. While it has been reported that gunman James T. Hodgkinson campaigned for Bernie Sanders in Iowa, the Vermont senator and other Democrats have widely condemned any political motive that Hodgkinson held. And Carver’s words aren’t sentiments that the GOP will want to have out there as voters prepare to head to the polls, but a last minute controversy didn’t hurt Greg Gianforte in Montana, so who knows what will happen?
In brighter news, Steve Scalise undoubtedly has a long road to physical recovery after being shot in the hip, but his condition has been upgraded from critical to serious. He also reportedly spent the weekend “watching college sports,” and his Twitter account wished everyone a Happy Father’s Day.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) June 18, 2017
(Via Washington Post)