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It’s a Republican district. The “fundamentals” point to a slight edge for the GOP. Trump may have struggled in November, but he still won it. Tom Price, who represented the district for 12 years and left office to become Trump’s secretary of health and human services, never had trouble there. And Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) won it handily when he ran for re-election last year.

The results of the first round of voting on April 18 also point to a roughly evenly divided electorate but one that tilts ever so slightly Republican.

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Ossoff nearly won outright in that first round because he consolidated the Democratic vote. But his votes, added to the ballots cast for the other Democratic candidates in the race, equaled only 49 percent. No Republican came close to Ossoff because the GOP had several strong candidates and a bevy of lesser hopefuls.

Handel was a distant second with 19.8 percent of the vote. But all Republicans together added up to 51 percent.

Some 140,309 people cast early ballots for the runoff, either in person or by mail. That is a 150 percent increase over the first round. That may actually be a good sign for Republicans, if it is an indication that overall turnout will be high.

With a Democratic base that is on fire, a typically low-turnout special election would tend to favor the most motivated side. If turnout is high, though, it likely means Republicans are showing up, too.[lz_pagination]