“Rep. Lucy McBath always says the most important title she’ll ever hold is ‘Mom,’ for her son Jordan who was shot and killed. A two-time breast cancer survivor who worked as a Delta flight attendant for 30 years, Rep. McBath is a mom on a mission to find common-sense solutions for Georgia families. In her short time in Congress, she has helped pass laws to prevent gun violence, take care of our veterans, lower prescription drug costs, and ensure people with pre-existing conditions can afford their health care. I’m proud to call Rep. McBath a colleague and I look forward to serving with her in the years to come.” – DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos
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To: Interested Parties
From: Avery Jaffe, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: June 10, 2020
Subject: The Case Against Karen Handel
It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
So it goes for former Congresswoman Karen Handel, who is embarking on her eighth run for her fifth office in the last two decades. She almost always loses and 2020 shows no signs of being any different.
Handel will return as the Republican nominee in GA-06 after Tuesday’s widespread failure of state elections systems across Georgia – a broken system Handel helped create as Georgia’s former Secretary of State. While the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described the unimaginably long lines, ballot shortages and malfunctioning machines as a “complete meltdown,” Handel called Georgia as “a national model for voter integrity” on Tuesday and said she was “proud” of her record.
Handel has committed herself to a campaign of voter suppression and praises leaders in her party who regularly take steps to disenfranchise communities of color.
During her long, winding political career and her short time in Congress, Rep. Karen Handel proved that she could do little beyond delivering for her party leaders and special interest donors. For Rep. Lucy McBath, a mom on a mission, it’s about much more than that.
Rep. McBath lost her son to a tragic gun violence incident, and now she’s fighting to make communities safer and prevent other families from experiencing that same loss. Lucy McBath beat breast cancer twice and recognizes that without access to quality insurance and health care, her outcome might have been different. That’s why she’s fighting to ensure everyone in her district has access to affordable care.
In Congress, Rep. McBath has stood by those principles, protecting Georgians with pre-existing conditions, voting to lower prescription drug prices, making history by securing $25 million for gun violence prevention research and working across the aisle for Georgia veterans and getting her bipartisan legislation signed by President Trump.
In contrast, during Handel’s short time in Congress, Handel became a creature of the Washington establishment. Handel was a consistent party line vote, even when it meant selling out her district with a tax scam that placed a heavier tax burden on the suburban constituents she was elected to represent, or gutting the health care system in ways that will lead to higher premiums for many Georgia families.
It’s clear by now that Georgians in the 6th District know who Karen Handel is. And they don’t like what they’ve seen with this Karen.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: “McBath’s veteran protection bill signed by Trump” [Johns Creek Herald, 9/5/19]
HEADLINE: “Rep. Lucy McBath gets House to pass bill approving $50M gun violence research” [CBS Atlanta, 6/19/19]
HEADLINE: “Rep. Lucy McBath helps secure $5 million grant to fund Akers Mill Ramp project” [CBS Atlanta, 7/24/19]
HEADLINE: “Childbirth almost killed this congresswoman. Now she wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to another mother.” [NBC Atlanta, 4/17/19]
HEADLINE: “Handel takes most of the heat in 6th Congressional District Republican debate” [Marietta Daily Journal, 5/4/20]
“Her [Republican] opponents said that Handel’s loss two years ago proved that she is not the right candidate if Republicans want to take back control of the suburban Atlanta district.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 5/4/20]
“The former congresswoman, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, lauded Kemp’s [coronavirus reopening] plan in a social media post earlier this week.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/23/20]
Karen Handel: Radical Extremist, Health Care Opponent and Career Politician
A RADICAL EXTREMIST
Karen Handel is a radical extremist. She laughed at the idea of giving equal rights to gay individuals, voted to jail doctors who perform abortions, supported Trump’s policy of child separations and touted the endorsement of someone who said men should be dominant over women.
This isn’t new for Karen. Handel has attacked Planned Parenthood for years—while running for governor, she pledged to defund the women’s health organization. In 2012, Handel used her influence as a top executive at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organization whose mission is to cure breast cancer, to cut its grants to Planned Parenthood.
The Komen Foundation reversed Handel’s decision after it created a national embarrassment and caused a $77 million drop in donations, a 22 percent decline. Handel sought to profit from the fiasco by writing a book entitled, Planned Bullyhood.
In contrast, Rep. McBath has reached across the aisle to get things done. McBath joined with a Republican congressman to write a bill to help struggling veterans, the HAVEN Act, which was signed into law by President Trump. She’s also worked across the aisle to secure $5 million in transportation funding for Georgia’s 6th District.
A HEALTH CARE OPPONENT WHO FOLLOWS THE SPECIAL INTERESTS
Handel has accepted more than $400,000 from the insurance and drug industry, while enthusiastically supporting a plan which would deny health care for people with pre-existing conditions and allow insurance companies to impose what the AARP calls an “age tax” on older Americans.
Handel supported Washington Republicans’ disastrous efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip health care away from nearly 60,000 people in her district. In Congress, she voted to increase premiums on her constituents. Handel voted to strip a key provision from the Affordable Care Act increasing premiums in Georgia by nearly 20 percent.
Karen Handel’s campaigns are largely funded by special interest groups, and was among Washington Republicans’ most reliable party line votes during her brief stint in Congress, voting with her party 98 percent of the time.
As a two-time breast cancer survivor, affordable health care is personal for Rep. McBath. She supports reducing the cost of prescription drugs, preventing drug companies from gouging senior citizens, and protecting health care for people with pre-existing conditions.
A SWAMPY CAREER POLITICIAN WHO PUTS HERSELF FIRST
In her two decades of running for office over and over again, Handel has never finished one full term in office. As a career politician, she has run for Governor, U.S. Senate, Secretary of State, U.S. Congress, and Fulton County Commissioner – and while she’s been in office, she’s shown exactly why she shouldn’t be.
As Secretary of State, Karen Handel increased her office budget by 42 percent and as the head of the Fulton County Commission, “her personal office budget rose by 43%.”
Here’s how she expertly managed to waste taxpayer money:
Handel spent $13,500 in two years on travel and used a taxpayer-funded state airplane. She used taxpayer dollars for a brand new Lexus SUV for herself. Rather than use a state car, Handel used taxpayer dollars to drive a “Lexus SUV that still has the new-car smell.” She suggested spending $15,000 on new chairs for the Governor’s Office, even though the state was in “the worst state budget crisis since the Great Depression.”
Even fellow Republicans have attacked her wasteful spending, with the Republican Club for Growth super PAC dubbing her a “big-spending career politician” in her 2017 run.
PATH TO VICTORY
Facing exploding demographic changes across Metro Atlanta that are reshaping the face of politics in Georgia, Georgia Republicans are terrified.
Georgia’s 6th congressional district is 60.8 percent urban and 39.2 percent suburban, reflecting the kind of communities that have shifted rapidly toward Democrats since 2016. Democrats’ recent success has been accelerated by Metro Atlanta’s continued growth year after year: all three counties in the 6th District – Fulton, Cobb and DeKalb – are growing more diverse by the year.
In 2018, Rep. McBath and Stacey Abrams both won GA-06 in an election that saw voters of color turn out at an even greater rate in 2018 than they did in 2016. In 2020, an historic number of people of color heading to the polls will help power Rep. McBath to another victory.
In addition to presidential cycle turnout dynamics, Rep. McBath’s ability to build on her 2018 victory rests on her ability to tell her story and, once again, define retread candidate Karen Handel due to her vast financial advantage.
While Rep. McBath has cemented her status among House Democrats’ top fundraisers overall and especially among the grassroots, former Congresswoman Handel’s anemic fundraising operation has oscillated between lying about her fundraising and receiving bailouts from her Washington Republican backers.
In contrast, Rep. McBath enters the general election with a robust $2.9 million on hand.
With the district set to convincingly reject President Trump and extreme health care opponents like Karen Handel, Rep. McBath is well-positioned for another win in 2020.
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