Special Election 2017: GA-6 and SC-5

Up Date 22:30 Karen Handel has been projected as the winner of the GA-6 Congressional District.

Up Date 21:30 Both the NYT and MSNBC have Handel leading Osoff by 3 points, 51% – 49%, with 60% of the vote counted.

Up Date 21:15 The NYT and MSNBC are projecting Republican Ralph Norman has won the SC-5 election.

This could be a long night. The latest polls show a dead heat between the two candidates to replace Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price’s House seat in the Georgia 6th district outside Atlanta. The race between Democrat Jon Osaff and Republican Karen Handel is seen as the final chance for Democrats to take a seat from Republicans is a traditionally red district that Trump won by only 1%. it has been raining all day with torrential downpours and flash flood watches and there are fears that that will suppress voter turnout for Osoff. The polls closed qt 7 PM but were in extended in two places in DeKald county until 7:30 PM due to equipment problems.

The New York Times is reporting that Osoff has a 1 point lead over Handel, 50.5 – 49.5 with 6 percent of precincts fully reporting.

In South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, the race is between Ralph Norman, a Republican and a former state representative, and Archie Parnell, a Democrat and a wealthy former banker to replace Mick Mulvaney, now director of the Office of Management and Budget. Polls close at 7 PM ET. This race has not gotten the national media attention and Mr. Norman is expected to win. Currently, he leads Mr. Parnell 51.5% – 47.9% with 69% of the precincts reporting. There are three other candidates in this race.

Up Date as results come in