ATLANTA – Former U.S. Rep. Karen Handel was well on her way late Tuesday night to winning the right to try to get her congressional seat back this fall.
While results were trickling in very slowly in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, Handel had built up a big enough lead to withstand a crowded field of opponents and avoid a runoff in August.
With 13.5% of precincts reporting as of midnight, Handel had piled up 71% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Her closest opponent was businessman and author Joe Profit, at just 18%.
Business owner Blake Harbin, former Small Business Administration loan specialist Mykel Barthelemy and retired hair salon owner Paula Smith were running in the single digits.
Handel will oppose Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath, who turned Handel out of office two years ago. McBath won the Democratic nomination for the seat running unopposed.
With a long political and business background in Georgia, Handel has built up tremendous name recognition. The Washington, D.C., native served as deputy chief of staff to then-Vice President Dan Quayle’s wife, Marilyn, before moving to Georgia.
Her business career has included a stint as president and CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.
In politics, she has served as chairman of the Fulton County Commission, deputy chief of staff to then-Gov. Sonny Perdue and as Georgia secretary of state.
She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010 and for the U.S. Senate in 2014 before winning the House seat in a special election three years ago in what turned out to be the most expensive congressional campaign in U.S. history.
McBath, a gun control advocate whose son was murdered in 2012, then defeated Handel in 2018, becoming the first Democrat in decades to hold the 6th District seat in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, a district once represented by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Georgia’s 6th Congressional District stretches from East Cobb County through North Fulton and North DeKalb counties.