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 was viewed as a referendum on President Trump, who carried the district by only a point and a half in November. They fell short in other special congressional elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, and are expected to lose another race on Tuesday in SC.
Republicans immediately crowed over winning a seat Democrats spent at least $30 million trying to flip. Republicans hit him on that, while Democrats focused on Handel's support from "dark money".
Democrats still must win 24 Republican seats to regain a House majority next November.
Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta.
"It's that fighting spirit, that perseverance and tenacity that I will take to Washington", she said on Tuesday night.
"Fending off a serious Democratic challenger in a race widely viewed as a barometer of public opinion on President Donald Trump's presidency, Republican Karen Handel won the special election Tuesday to succeed Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price in Georgia's sixth congressional district".
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Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan added: "Congratulations to Karen Handel on a hard-earned and well-deserved victory". "In these United States of America, no one, no one should ever feel their life threatened over their political beliefs and positions", she said. There have also been reports of campaigns being fueled with a rush of donors.
Ossoff stood out in the rain with a group of supporters at an intersection, waving at cars and holding up signs.
Ossoff says that while it's not the outcome he and others were hoping for, "this is the beginning of something much bigger than us".
Ms Handel, 55, spent Monday campaigning across the district, and received support from a Trump tweet on Tuesday. She pointed voters instead to her "proven conservative record" as a state and local elected official.
With 207 percent of the 208 precincts counted, Mrs. Handel defeated Mr. Ossoff, a former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker, by a 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent margin.
In the presidential election, Hillary Clinton outspent Donald Trump by a factor of 2-to-1, pro-Clinton ads outnumbered pro-Trump ads 3-to-1, "dark money" spending for Clinton beat Trump by 3-to-1, and Clinton backers ran 3 times as many ads in battleground states. Handel has not released her most recent fundraising numbers. "We need to finish the drill on health care", she told supporters. The Republican campaign establishment, however, helped make up the difference.
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