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Trump to appear at fundraiser for GOP congressional candidate in Georgia

April 26, 2017 at 10:38 a.m. EDT
Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional seat Karen Handel speaks at an Election Night watch party in Roswell, Ga. (David Goldman/AP)

President Trump on Friday plans to wade further into the special congressional election in Georgia, appearing at a fundraiser for Republican candidate Karen Handel.

Trump is traveling to Atlanta to address a conference of the National Rifle Association and will appear at the fundraiser afterward, according to a copy of the invitation. Tickets start at $2,700 apiece, while hosts are asked to contribute or raise $25,000 per couple.

Handel finished second in the April 18 special election to Democrat Jon Ossoff, and the two will face each other in a runoff on June 20. The race is being closely watched nationally as a test of how Trump is affecting down-ballot races.

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In the days leading up to the first round of voting, Trump took an intense interest in the race, recording a robo-call and taking to Twitter to urge voters to keep Ossoff below the 50-percent threshold he would have needed to win the seat outright.

In an 18-candidate field, Ossoff finished with 48.1 percent of the vote, followed by Handel with 19.8 percent. Handel, however, could have the upper hand in June in the Republican-tilting district that had been represented by Tom Price, now Trump’s secretary of health and human services.

Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, kept Trump at arm's-length during the first round of voting, barely mentioning him on the trail, while other Republicans in the field embraced him more enthusiastically. She has since said she would welcome his help.

Her campaign on Wednesday confirmed the fundraiser but offered no other details. The invitation says the location will be shared with those who RSVP.