Republicans are so desperate to hold onto the house seat in Georgia’s 6th congressional district that they are sending unpopular House Speaker Paul Ryan to campaign for GOP candidate Karen Handel.
According to Politico, Ryan will hit the trail in an effort to stave off surging Democrat Jon Ossoff, who fell just two points shy of 50 percent in Tuesday’s special election and managed to win the largest share of the vote for any Democrat in that district since it was established.
The news also comes on a day in which Ossoff brought in a record amount of cash – $500,000 in a single day – for his runoff campaign against Handel, which is set for June 20.
The move by Ryan – one of the most powerful Republicans in government – to insert himself into a special election in a GOP district speaks volumes about how worried Republicans are about this race.
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Still, it’s unclear whether Ryan will improve Handel’s chances – or make them worse.
According to recent polling, a whopping 54 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Ryan has done as Speaker of the House. Overall, only 29 percent of the country thinks Ryan is doing a good job – not great numbers for a guy Georgia Republicans are counting on to bring home a win in GA-06.
Ryan’s most notable failure came over the last few months when he was unable to bring his party – and the Republican president – together to achieve the repeal of Obamacare, something they have been promising to do for nearly a decade.
If this is the Republican Party’s secret weapon in keeping control of this hotly contested seat in Georgia, then they’re in big trouble.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
