Handel is running in a close race against Democratic newcomer Jon Ossoff, who has come under fire for living a few miles outside the district while his fiancé attends medical school.
But an Ossoff victory would help Democrats raise money and recruit candidates as they try to win back control of the House of Representatives in 2018.
Even a Trump Cabinet member and former Georgia governor, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, acknowledged the conundrum at a recent Handel rally, saying "some Republicans" are "turned off" by the president.
Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel emerged from a crowded field of 18 primary candidates in April, after Ossoff fell just shy of the 50 percent of the vote needed to capture the vacant seat. Leading up to the opening of polls, he tweeted three times for voters there to support Republican Karen Handel.
The affluent and well-educated district has elected Newt Gingrich, the former speaker; Johnny Isakson, now Georgia's senior US senator; and most recently Tom Price, who resigned in February to join the administration.
The outcome of FBI and congressional investigations into possible Trump campaign ties to Russian Federation, and whether the president obstructed justice in handling the federal probe, could influence campaigns' strategy.
Many have called the race for Georgia's 6th Congressional District a referendum on Trump's presidency, and one that could indicate whether Republicans will hold onto their majority in the House after the 2018 mid-term elections.
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Unable to chase a mammoth total of 339, India were bowled out for just 158 in the 31st over of the second innings. Let me take you back to, well, any year since Partition, really, but we'll say 1992.
With Trump weighing in on the race on Twitter, Ossoff said America's partisan political conversation was a challenge his campaign had to overcome.
For five years, Ossoff worked as a staffer for Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who represents the state's fourth congressional district.
Some observers were also eying the race for clues into how voters perceive the Republican health care bill now making its way through Congress. State officials, though, say they're confident the technology is secure.
Democrats have plenty of energy nationally, but it hasn't translated to the electoral scoreboard.
Ossoff raised $23.6 million through May, mostly from donors in blue states, compared with $4.3 million raised by Handel, mostly from Georgia, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The party maintained its hold on House seats in Kansas and Montana. "God, no. But I believe he has the country's best interests at heart", said Jessica Podalsky, who voted for Handel on Tuesday morning. Republicans are favored to hold a fourth seat on Tuesday in SC, while Democrats already held their lone open seat in a California special election.
There have already been two special congressional elections since President Trump took office, and both were won by Republicans.
A little-known political action committee unveiled a last-minute ad trying to link Ossoff to the shooting of a Republican House leader and others at a GOP congressional baseball team practice last week outside Washington.
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