Lucy McBath said she was anxious as she sat outside a Caribbean restaurant in Sandy Springs, Ga., on Tuesday night, surrounded by her supporters as she waited to learn whether her nascent political career would continue. By 11 p.m., Ms. McBath, 58, who became an anti-gun violence activist after her son was fatally shot in 2012, had her answer: She would become the Democratic nominee for the Sixth Congressional District’s seat after winning a runoff election against Kevin Abel, 53. “I couldn’t believe it,” Ms. McBath said in an interview on Wednesday. “The first thing I said was, ‘Thank you, Lord.’” Ms. McBath, who received 53.7 percent of the vote against Mr. Abel, a businessman and first-time candidate, will now face Representative Karen Handel in the general election in November. This year’s midterm elections have a surge of progressive female candidates, and Ms. McBath will stand in stark contrast to Ms. Handel, 56, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.<doc-sep>Politics & Government GA Election Results: McBath Wins 6th District Democratic Runoff Lucy McBath defeated Democratic challenger Kevin Abel in the runoff and will face Republican Rep. Karen Handel in the Nov. 6 election. Reply SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Democratic voters in Georgia's 6th Congressional District have spoken, and they have chosen Lucy McBath to take on incumbent Rep. Karen Handel in the Nov. 6 general election. McBath defeated Kevin Abel in the July 24 primary runoff election. According to unofficial results on Georgia Secretary of State's website, McBath won the 6th District vote with 54 percent while Abel received 46 percent with 100 percent of the precincts reporting. Both Democrats advanced to the runoff, as they were the top recipients of the votes in the May 22 primary election. McBath will now move on to the challenge Handel, a Republican, in the general election. Georgia's 6th Congressional District covers North Fulton County and parts of East Cobb and DeKalb counties. Handel won the seat in 2017 in a special election, defeating Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff in a closely-watched race. That special election was held to replace former Rep. Tom Price, who briefly served as President Donald Trump's Health and Human Service secretary before leaving the post amidst a scandal over his use of expensive private jets. Other races Of course, the race on everyone's mind is the Republican primary runoff to become Georgia's next governor. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who received a late-in-the-race endorsement from President Donald Trump, soundly defeated Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle with 69 percent of the Republican vote. Cagle, who was endorsed by Gov. Nathan Deal, 31 percent of the vote. State Sen. David Shafer appears to have squeaked out an extremely tight win over State Rep. Geoff Duncan in the race to replace Cagle as lieutenant governor. Duncan is leading the race with a less-than-2,000-vote margin, getting 50.1 percent of the vote to Shafer's 49.85 percent. Duncan is set to face Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico for state government's No. 2 spot. And in the GOP race to replace Kemp as Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger defeated former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle with 62 percent of the vote to Belle Isle's 38 percent. "I would like to thank my fellow Georgians for your support tonight," Raffensperger, a former state representative and Johns Creek City Council member, said on his Facebook page. "We have won the Republican nomination for Secretary of State. Thank you all!" Democratic voters chose Otha Thornton Jr. over Sid Chapman to face incumbent Republican State School Superintendent Richard Woods in the Nov. 6 General Election. Thornton won the race with 59 percent of the vote to Chapman's 41 percent.<doc-sep>Gun-control activist Lucy McBath, whose teenage son was shot and killed in 2012 by a stranger at a gas station, won the Democratic nomination for Georgia's 6th Congressional District. "I am at a loss for words. Thank you to my supporters, friends & family. And I want to thank my dear Jordan, my rock & inspiration," McBath tweeted after the race was called. Her son, Jordan, was 17 when he was killed. A former flight attendant and spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety, McBath decided to run for Congress in March, after the shooting in Parkland, Florida. Over the course of her campaign, she received influential endorsements of several prominent Democrats, including Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. On Tuesday, she beat fellow Democrat Kevin Abel by about 2,000 votes in a runoff election after no candidate hit the 50 percent mark in the Democratic primary race in May. McBath will now face Republican Rep. Karen Handel in the general election. Turning from tragedy to politics If Georgia’s 6th district sounds familiar, that's because a special election there last year was widely reported on and viewed as a barometer of public opinion on President Donald Trump. Democratic hopes were defeated by Handel, who beat Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff and made history by becoming Georgia’s first Republican woman to represent the state in Congress. McBath would also make history if elected -- she would be the only black woman in Georgia's congressional delegation -- but maintains that she never saw a foray into politics in her life plan. "I never expected this to happen, but I know that in light of all my experiences, to not to do anything is a tragedy in itself," McBath said in an interview with ABC News just days before the May primary -- and just days after the nation watched another deadly high school shooting unfold in Santa Fe, Texas. It was the sixth fatal school shooting since the attack in Parkland. When it happened, McBath was on the campaign trail in Georgia. And she knew what the parents were going through. "I was just as angry and devastated ... with Santa Fe as I was for Parkland because Jordan was the same age as all these children that have been gunned down," she said. Now, McBath is part of a growing movement: Parents who've lost a child to gun violence deciding to run for office. The deadly shooting in Parkland inspired others to run as well, including two parents whose teenage daughters were killed at the Florida high school and are now running for seats on their county's school board. "I'm sure you'll continue to see more parents like myself who are losing their children standing up," McBath said. "It's just going to happen." McBath is running in a district that hasn't been represented by a Democrat since 1979 but that Hillary Clinton nearly turned blue in 2016, losing by less than 2 percentage points to Trump. “We know the eyes and ears of the nation are here, we’re really trying to make sure that democracy works here in our state and make sure that it works for everybody,” McBath said in May. “At least I am,” the candidate added with a laugh. According to the most recent FEC filing earlier this month, McBath had just over $151,100 heading into the runoff. Handel, the incumbent, heads into the general with more than $1 million. Everytown for Gun Violence has played an active role in McBath's campaign, dropping at least $1 million in support of the candidate. McBath's nomination in the red state comes at a time when Georgia faces more firearms deaths than the national average. In 2016, 1,571 people died in Georgia from firearms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- bringing the rate of deaths to 15 per every 100,000 residents. The national average in 2016 was 11.8 per 100,000. But McBath is adamant that she is not an anti-gun candidate. According to her campaign, McBath wants background checks for all gun sales, the defeat of conceal-carry reciprocity, a higher minimum-age-of-purchase and laws that ban domestic abusers and criminals from buying guns. “The thing about it is that I'm not against guns. I’m not against the Second Amendment. I’m not against law-abiding gun owners and hunters owning their guns,” she said in May. What she is against, she said, is people who “want to use their guns in a way that is criminal.” “We have to get a grip on keeping the guns out of hands of people who should not have them,” McBath said. Throughout her campaign, she’s tried to push back on claims that she’s a one-issue candidate. Knowing what it's like to lose a son, she said, she can understand other issues that hurt families -- such as immigration and the fear of losing someone to deportation. “I know what it's like to tear families apart from gun violence -- we shouldn’t be doing that with immigration,” McBath said. Other parts of her platform are inspired by her experience raising her son and being a single mother. At one point, she was so disappointed in the education system she decided she had to homeschool him. “I recognized my neighborhood wasn't going to be able to give Jordan the education I wanted him to have,” she said. “So, yes, guns is a huge part of my platform,” McBath said. “But it's not the only part of my platform because a lot of what I’m talking about I’ve experienced myself. That’s been my reality.” Editor's note: Karen Handel is the first Republican woman to represent Georgia. An earlier version of this story said she was the first woman.<doc-sep>This image was removed due to legal reasons. Gun control activist Lucy McBath, whose 17-year-old son was shot and killed in 2012, won the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. Advertisement On Tuesday night, McBath defeated businessman Kevin Abel by about 2,000 votes. She now faces Republican Representative Karen Handel in November. The 6th Congressional District has not elected a Democratic representative for nearly 40 years. If McBath wins, it will be a major win for both gun control activists and Democrats alike. McBath’s son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed by a white man at a Jacksonville, FL gas station. The shooter, Michael Dunn, complained that Davis and his friends were playing music too loudly in their car. (Dunn was later sentenced to life without parole for the killing.) His death compelled McBath to fight for gun control. She quit her job as a Delta flight attendant and became the spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. McBath’s original plan was to run for a seat in the state House, but the high school shooting in Parkland, FL, early this February pushed her to run for higher office. Advertisement “It’s just not enough to have the marches and the rallies and the speeches and the remarks,” McBath told CNN a few weeks ago. “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.” McBath’s campaign platform includes background checks for all gun sales; the defeat of legislation that make it easier for gun owners with concealed carry permits to cross state lines; raising the age for gun purchase to 21 years old; and keeping guns away from domestic abusers and criminals.<doc-sep>
(CNN) — Gun control activist Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed in 2012, will win the Democratic nomination in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, CNN projects. McBath, who defeated businessman Kevin Abel in a runoff election, will now face Republican Rep. Karen Handel in November in a race that could show whether gun control is an effective issue for Democrats in wealthy suburban districts. The district hasn’t elected a Democratic US representative since the 1970s. Democrats also held a runoff in another congressional district where they hope a blue wave in November could help oust an incumbent Republican. In GOP Rep. Rob Woodall’s 7th District, Georgia State University professor Carolyn Bourdeaux defeated David Kim, a tutoring business founder, CNN projects. From gun control advocate to House candidate McBath became a prominent spokeswoman for the gun control movement after her 17-year-old son Jordan Davis was shot and killed by a white man in 2012 after a dispute over loud music. She testified before Congress on the issue and also campaigned with Hillary Clinton in 2016 as part of the “Mothers of the Movement” — a group of women who lost children to police or gun violence. McBath told CNN before the runoff that she was inspired to jump into the Georgia congressional race by the activism of the students who survived the shooting in Parkland, Florida. “What I began to recognize is that I can keep helping to build this national movement and organize for gun violence prevention,” McBath said. “But you’ve got to have people on the inside that are willing to do the work, creating the bills and initiatives, who will push the issue. You’ve got to have gun-sense champions on the inside. Until I’m able to create real, hard, systemic change, broad change that saves a large number of lives, there’s no justice. We’ve got children dying in the classroom. Where’s the justice in that?” McBath added that she hopes to become a champion in Washington for activists like the students at Parkland. “I’m still a mother. I’m still parenting. That’s why I believed this was the time to stand up,” she said.