Thursday in metro Atlanta, Democrat Lucy McBath defeated Republican incumbent Karen Handel in race to the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s Sixth District. McBath is the first Democrat to represent the Sixth District since 1979 and the first African-American woman to represent Georgia Six.
Wednesday morning, McBath took a lead of more than 3,000 votes.
“After carefully reviewing all of the election results data, it is clear that I came up a bit short on Tuesday,” Handel said in the statement. “Congratulations to Representative-Elect Lucy McBath and I send her only good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her.”
McBath is the mother of Jordan Davis. Davis was killed in 2012 in Jacksonville, Fla in a race-motivated shooting. The shooter, Michael Dunn, was later convicted on charges of first degree murder. Later on, McBath lobbied for tighter gun laws, gun control and was inspired to be an activist after being a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.
“It’s just not enough to have the marches and the rallies and the speeches and the remarks,” McBath said to CNN. “Championing for them in Washington is still championing for my child, I’m still a mother, I’m still parenting. That’s why I believe this was the time to stand up.”
While Handel and conservative Political Action Committees (PACs) painted McBath as an out-of-town liberal that is not in touch with values in Georgia Six, the Democrat remained true to her platform of gun control, the DREAM act, and the expansion of Medicaid.
