Voters in Georgia Head to the Polls Today

Voters in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, previously held by Secretary of Health & Human Services Dr. Tom Price, are going to the polls Tuesday in what will effectively be a primary election to set up the two-candidate showdown that will happen in June.

That’s because there will be 18 candidates on the ballot, and one of them would have to win at least 50 percent of the vote to win.

There are five Democrats on the ballot, although the consensus candidate appears to be investigative documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff, a former congressional aide to U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)—who believes Guam will tip over if there are too many people on the island. He’s expected to garner about 40 percent of the vote.

Other Democrats include:

• Ragin Edwards, a senior sales manager
• Richard Keatley, a U.S. Navy veteran and college foreign language instructor
• Dr. Rebecca Quigg, a physician
• Ron Slotin, a Jewish media and marketing businessman and former state senator

There are also two independent candidates, neither of which is expected to draw very many votes in the largely conservative district. Price won re-election for what would have been his sixth term in November with nearly 62 percent of the vote.

So, the real battle will be among the 11 GOP candidates on Tuesday’s ballot. The top four in those polls have been:

• Bob Gray, a businessman and city councilor from Johns Creek
• Karen Handel, former Georgia Secretary of State, 2010 gubernatorial candidate, and 2014 U.S. Senate candidate
• Judson Hill, former state senator
• Dan Moody, former state senator

Gray, Handel and Moody have all been polling in the low double digits throughout the special election polling cycle. Gray recently took the polling lead over Handel in a single poll, but his lead has been deemed statistically irrelevant.

For the special election, all of the candidates will appear together on the ballot irrespective of their political affiliation in what is commonly referred to as a “jungle primary.” If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held June 20.

Democrats are once again pulling out all the stops in an attempt to take away a Republican seat from the House majority. While it would have no impact whatsoever on the GOP control of Congress, it would be played up as a major defeat for President Donald Trump in the liberal mainstream media if Ossoff were to win either Tuesday night or in the runoff in June 20. {eoa}