6th District Race: Mike Pence To Stump For Karen Handel

By Craig Johnson (Patch Staff)

MARIETTA, GA -- Vice President Mike Pence will land in Cobb County on Friday to campaign for Georgia's 6th Congressional District Republican candidate Karen Handel, the White House said. Pence's itinerary will include visiting military families at Dobbins Air Reserve Base as well as a fundraiser for Handel later in the day, Patch has learned.

The one-day trip marks the latest GOP luminary to personally swing through Atlanta to stump for Handel, who is involved in a dead-heat race with Democrat Jon Ossoff for the 6th District seat.

The race to replace former U.S. Rep. Tom Price, who vacated the seat to become the nation's health secretary, has benefited from an outpouring of cash from outside groups determined to sway the biggest election of 2017 thus far.

The race has also become a barometer of President Donald Trump's popularity on the local level. Democrats feel that if they can capitalize on voter discontent, they can take the district. The hashtag #Flipthe6th has become popular on social media.

• See also: Handel says in debate: 'I do not support a livable wage'

Meanwhile, the GOP has been forced to spend big money on the 6th District — which includes Atlanta's northern suburbs encompassing parts of Cobb, North Fulton and DeKalb counties — to keep what had been in recent decades a strongly Republican base from switching sides.

Earlier in the week, Ossoff and Handel debated each other before a local TV audience, with each candidate wading into key talking points, including outside money funding their campaigns, the Trump administration's travel ban and other hot topics.

The latest poll indicates that the race, which will conclude in the June 20 election, is neck and neck.

Image via Win McNamee/Getty Images