President Donald Trump appeared to celebrate Karen Handel's special-election victory by thanking Fox News for praising him on Tuesday night, after Handel was projected the victor in Georgia's 6th Congressional District race.
A loss for the Republicans could have sent them into a panic over the 2018 midterm elections.
Democrats need to win 24 seats to take the House.
Handel, 55, won in a suburban Atlanta district held by the GOP since 1979 despite raising far less money than Democrat Jon Ossoff, 30, in the most expensive House race in us history.
Democrats had been pinning their hopes on Jon Ossoff - a 30-year-old documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide - against the former Georgia secretary of state. Handel will fill a seat vacated by Tom Price, who was appointed by Trump as Health and Human Services secretary.
The candidates and lobby groups of both parties spent approximately $60 million on the special election, making it the most expensive congressional race in U.S. history.
Republican #Karen Handel won #Georgia's special runoff election Tuesday evening, beating Democratic opponent #Jon Ossoff by less than 5 points. The narrowing of the gap is reflective of the narrower congressional margins for Republicans seen earlier this year in Kansas and Montana - and elsewhere Tuesday night, in SC.
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Attendees have been urged to keep their activities peaceful, amid concerns that the disaster may be hijacked for violent means.
Throughout the campaign Ms Handel he had stressed her local roots, and mocked the fact that Mr Ossoff, who grew up in the district, no longer lived there and was therefore not able to vote for himself.
But moral victories only get you so far - and Democrats are clearly chafing at their inability to turn the tables on President Trump. She rarely mentioned him, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with him earlier this spring.
Citing the June 14 shooting at a congressional Republican baseball practice that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise injured, Handel urged a "more civil way to deal with our disagreements".
House Speaker Paul Ryan also congratulated the Republican candidate, one of the first senior Republicans to comment on her victory.
Voters here are classic suburban Republicans: They make good money and are highly educated, if not entirely wedded to the irreverent politics of the Republican president, Donald Trump. According to the Federal Elections Commission Ossoff raised more money from outside the Georgia than he raised in the state.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee backed by Ryan, has spent $7 million on her behalf. National Republicans' House campaign arm added $4.5 million, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chipped in another seven figures. He led in most polls since May and appeared to have the most enthusiasm on his side. She said she'd have voted for the House Republican health care bill, though she sometimes misrepresented its provisions in debates with Ossoff.
Norma garnered 51 percent of the votes while Parnell secured 48 percent in the traditionally Republican state.
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