2018? 2018? >> bret: this is a fox news >> this is a fox news alert. i am bret baier in washington. it's 11:00 p.m. in washington and also in atlanta. welcome to our primetime "special report." democrats arefo 0 for 5 and special elections. against an incumbent president who they say is incredibly vulnerable. under attack constantly from investigations into collusion and obstruction of justice to daily negative stories about his style, his tweets, you name it. but democrats are 0 for 5 so far and special elections.ns democrats tonight say all five of thoses candidates are performed traditional democratic turnout in these republican leaning districts. after spending tens of millions of dollars, they haven't won one.

tonight's focus, the special congressional electionub in georgia. republican karen handel defeats democrat journals off in a special runoff election, the most expensive congressional race in history. we have fox team coverage. we begin with correspondent steve harrigan, where celebrations are underway at handel headquarters. we just saw her speak on fox. >> the celebrations here now in full swing. we saw the crowd to build throughout the night, a lot of screams and roars when karen handelou came out to announce hr victory. now, the biggest roar, interestingly enough, was when she thanked president trump for his supports. handel had been on the fence throughout this campaign on how closely she was going to make this a referendum on president trump's presidency. she tried to focus it on the people here, on the issues here. but when she thanked trump, this crowd went wild. she did get a lot of support from the president in person and

on twitter, from the vice president, from the speaker, as well, and cabinet members. really, partef of the reason ths was such a referendum on trump is that both sides poured in so much money, so much attention, the most expensive house race in history, more than $50 million spent. as for ossoff, he seemed to moderate his campaign as it went on. initially saying he would "make trump furious," by the end, he,t too, was not mentioning donald trump. the man thiss election may have been around was an unmentioned brand in the final days. his strategy of moderation failed.tegy of moderation handel was able to paint ossoff as an outsider. the 30-year-old former documentary filmmaker did not evenev live in the district. handel made that point today when she was voting, she said, "i can vote here, my opponents can because he doesn't live in the district." he she painted him as someone wo

was a far left liberal getting money from the left, the outside. that strategy, painting him as a liberal and an outsider, works here. p what was supposed to be a real cliffhanger, nail-biter, upset, itrs turned out to be nothing le that. a convincing win for the republicans tonight. to bret, back to you. >> bret: steve, as the days closed down and the campaigning is ongoing, was there a sense that this momentumas changed after, for example, the kathy griffin incident, where republicans i rallied around pushing back against that picture of her holding up a severed a head? or even after the shooting up here in arlington, virginia? was there a sense they are on the ground that things changed? >> it has been speculated that things did change after that shooting. there was even an advertisement by an outsidee political action committee that used some of the footage from not shooting. her remarks tonight, too, handel

said we need to find a way to be more civil, to make sure that people don't risk their lives when they do run for office. it may have been a factor. also, this race through such intense emotion and competitiveness, more than 50,000 people who didn't voteti the firsthe time out and april came out to vote this time around. really, people said they were annoyedob by the robo calls, annoyed by the knocking on the doors. but they did come out to vote in big numbers on both sides tonight, bret. >> bret: steve harrigan at handel's campaign headquarters. thank you. her democratic challenger, jon ossoff, spoke to his supporters a while ago. he joins us live and what he had to say on a tough loss. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening, bret. you can see the crowd thinning out, people disappointed. maybe not surprised. early on, many of his supporters were saying that they knew that this was going to be a very

uphill battle in their efforts to come and their words, flip the six. in other words, taking this district that had been solidly red for nearly 40 years, turning it blue. they thought that they had a trance w based on the last presidential election, where donald trump won this district by a very razor-thin margin of 1.5 percentage points. clearly, they just did not have the numbers in this congressional race. what they thought might be a victory speech turned out to be this concession speech. give it a listen. >> it's about an extraordinary community at an extraordinary moment in history. the first opportunity in this country to make a statement about values that can still unite people. [cheers and applause] >> so, jon ossoff and other democratic leaders this evening,

calling on supporters to continue their efforts. they say this is really part of a movement. it was not able to deliver for them this evening. again, the republican karen handel presumably going to washington to take tom price's old congressional seat. bret, back to you. >> bret: jonathan and atlanta at the ossoff headquarters. georgia was of the site of of e only special election tonight. voters in south carolina have elected republican ralph moorman. norman spoke to his supporters a short time ago. >> some people in this district decided to send a loud message today. i think that message is this. it is time to govern, it is time to get things done, it is time to go to work. with everybody pulling together, we can make this country as great as we can. we can make it a reality now. i want to go to

washington, d.c., to make that t reality. >> bret: norman fills the seat vacated by the president's budget director mick mulvaney. let's turn back to the georgia special election, get some analysis. greg bluestein is a political reporter for "the atlanta journal-constitution." he is in atlantata tonight. shall be r holidays or politics are for "the wall street journal." she isn't new york. and in washington, chris stirewalt. greg, i want to start with you. surprised at theit results tonight? did you see this closing in the last few days? >> we saw at closing but we didn't realize it would be this wide of a margin this looks much easier than it really seems out there in s the field. razor-thin.howed it it was not even close by the end of it. this was a six-point margin where jon ossoff wasn't able to improve on hillary clinton's margin in georgia. >> bret: so, is this aol situation where the polls are wrongai again? >> wait a minutes.

>> bret: i am just asking. >> i'm just saying. the poll, we don't care about the topline numbers as much as we care of the movement. in the closing weeks, the movement for karen handel was clear. she was closing the gap. as thehe focus on this race came down to this being cast as make or break,ak do-or-die, if republicans lose-lose, then, their partyil will be exploded y nuclear bombs and cast into the best and will be all be over for them. republicans that i guess we better go vote. what republicans really wanted or what democrats really wanted was to try to sneak up on them like they did in south carolina. isn't it funny that the race that got $50 million poured into it, celebrity endorsements, robo calls, full freak out, was a much wider margin than the one that was in south carolina, that had half a number of voters, and was significantly closer? >> bret: what turns this race? >> you can debate about the polls all night, but this does

resemble 2016. the polls arere off, ground game didn't matter as much as everyone thought it dead. money and enthusiasm did not ultimately turn into votes for democrat jon ossoff. to some of it had to do with the fact that he is a 30-year-old political novice, he didn't have a record. there was a lot of talk in the district aboutt what he really did stand for despite the fact that he was running on his moderate, for us fist conservative platform. i think karen handel going to washington is not just a win for karen handel, it's a big win for paul ryan. and karen handel, republicans have yet another house number who is fiscally conservative, who shares their social values, also, wants to build a wall on the southern border.al she wants to repeal and replace obamacare. i spoke to her last week in georgia, she said she did not necessarily support the border adjustment tax, which is a subject of much debate in the house. but she is on -- firmly behind a lot of the policies that president trump is trying to put forth. this is a huge wine across the

board. asas we were talking about, this is a sweep for republicans. you cannot understate the pressure of the democrats now face. they are torn between what kind of candidate they should run in the mid terms, what kind of issues they should run on, instead of having a clear map for the midterms, there is a whole lot of confusion for the democratic party. >> bret: as much as we talk about, for all of the time spent talking in the media about a split in the republican party that some, like trump and the trump agenda, some others don't and are standing up to him, it seems like it is a clear indication of the split in the democratic party and that ossoff couldn't find whether to be a moderate or embrace the national furor in the democratic party, which is coming from the left the party. >> there is already second-guessing among democrats i have talked to about his message because he didn't overtly attack, near the end of the campaign at least, overtly attacked donald trump, when

trump visited or when mike pencf visited. hea largely refrained from attacking, just saying he doesn't want to weigh in on national figures coming in from washington. there already democrats here that say, if you'd only got an edge year, maybe it would have worked. i don't know. it didn't look like anything would have worked in this district with the results that we saw tonight's. >> bret: translate that hereto in washington. you said paul ryan is extremely happy tonight. as they have no eye health care bill, we haven't really seen it, we are expecting to see it thursday on the senate side, the show room model, they may get a little wind at their backs perhaps on the trump agenda with this win. >> at least get out of the giant wind tunnel that was blowing in their face. the headwinds of republicans are real. we shouldn't pretend that they aren't facing serious challenges. every partyt that holds the white house faces challenges in the first midterm. except for in 2002, that's just what history says. they do have hundreds or they are grace of the president is not that popular right now.

all that having been said, if that checkmark was on the other box, blood paul ryan would be facing tomorrow, what mitch mcconnell would be facing in the senate, would be revolted. they would both be facing members who said, oh, yeah, you want me to stand around next to you and wait for the steamroller to squash me? i am not doing it.ng i'm going off of my own. this buys them time that they need between now and the end of august toog put together a packe and get some legislation done. >> bret:s shelby, what is your bet that we see the stories tomorrow, and they say, this was a republican district and was held by republicans since 79, and the margin was less than it was going to be, both in south carolina and georgia, and that is the focus, and not, this is a big win for the president? >> i'm sure we will see these headlines. being on theg ground and talking to voters this past week, everyone said this is in fact a referendumpu on donald trump. republicans wanted to send someone to washington to support him, democrats wanted to block

that, of course, clean this big sweet revenge victory in theirim backyards. thisba is about the president. a lot of people are saying it's about health care. it's really not. it's an affluent district. people have health care. they don't have as much at stake when it comes to their own health care. they were far more worried when ii spoke to them about governmet spending and they are frustrated with the turmoil in washington. donald trump is not a particularly popular figure in this district. but this was a referendum. this is a victory for the white house, make no mistake. >> bret: earlier i said, 5-0, president trump of the biggest surprise victory. of the contested special congressional elections, republicans are 4-0 with montana, kansas, south carolina, and georgia. they did pick up one to replace javier becerra, not a surprise in california. greg, put it in perspective for georgia. what that state looks like, is it now more contested for democrats, even after this loss with jon ossoff? there was talkn that

hillary clinton wanted to look at georgia. but it seems like the old days of michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania, when democrats are looking at states that really are republican at their heart. >> democrats hope that he ossoff victory would have given them a path, the wealthy, conservative leaning districts like this one. it didn't. where he stands in georgia, where the situation stands and states like -- places like orange county, california, suburban new york districts, it makes this interest message all the more difficult to sell. in georgia, which has been reliably republican for decades now, republicans control every statewide office, and commanding majority of the state legislature, it makes it a lot harder for democrats, especially newcomers like jon ossoff, to come from out of nowhere and make a a challenge. >> bret: most r expensive house race andto history.

150-$250 per vote. shelby, greg, chris, thank you very much. when we come back, a look at the other headlines tonight and what they are saying at the white house about these two special elections. continuing coverage on fox, live, next. ♪ ♪ hey, bud. you need some help? no, i'm good. come on, moe. i have to go. (vo) we always trusted our subaru impreza would be there for him someday. ok. that's it. (vo) we just didn't think someday would come so fast. see ya later, moe. (vo) introducing the subaru impreza. the longest-lasting vehicle in its class. more than a car, it's a subaru. you're searching for something. like the perfect deal... ...on the perfect hotel.

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♪ >> bret: is a fox news alert, updating you tonight. former georgia secretary of state karen handel is the winner and a special congressional election in suburban atlanta. congressional district six. she defeated challenger jon ossoff by more than 10,000 votes in the most expensive house raisein in history to replace hs secretary tom price. more on that and just say moments. first, here are some of the other stories making news. president trump met with ukrainian president poroshenko at the white house amid growing tensions with russia. poroshenko, by the way, a guest on "special report" tonight. just yesterday, russian war plane flew within 5 feet of an american reconnaissance plane over the baltic sea. it came a day after the u.s. shot down a syrian jet near the isis stronghold of rock. russia has warned that it will not consider american struts in western syria air targets. belgian authorities say the stop the terror attack at a busy

brussels train station tonight for the federal prosecutor says soldiers shot and killed after a small explosion inside that station. witnesses say he was yelling about jihadists. no one else was hurt in the incident.la capital security forces plan to step up securityke for lawmakers in the wake of last week's shooting at a republican baseball practice in alexandria, virginia. the efforts could include sending officers to large gatherings of lawmakers outside the capital, as well as seven uniformed officers present, rather than officers in plain clothes here in d.c. a settlement has been reached in the wrongful death suit filed by the parents of michael brown. brown was an unarmed teenager who was shot by white police officerte in ferguson, missouri, back in 2014. his death sparked months of protests in that city. details of that settlement have not been released.y the georgia special election was viewed by many as a referendum on president trump. correspondent kevin corke is at thehi white house tonight with reaction and kevin, i am sure they are happy to accept that

tonight. >> you better believe they certainly are. listen, frankly, bret, it is with a pretty good night by all accounts. he had a dinner date with the first lady melania at the residence of the vice president on the second lady. after that, came the news that the 2016 general election g.o.p. wave continues to wash over into 2017. >> it didn't take him very long. g.o.p. victories in both georgia and south carolina congressional races, the president, as is his custom, took to twitter. mr. trump tweeting... he had made no secret of his keen interest in congressional race for the georgia sixth district, tweeting earlier in the day... d whilead some political experts d suggested w the contest was a

referendum on the trump presidency, authors cautioned against reading too much into its outcome. >> we will read an enormous amount into the result. some of it will be justified. most of it probably won't be afraid a month from now, we'll be talking about something elsem it's >> still, it could be argud that the races sent a very clear message the white house. o proceed full steam ahead with the trump agenda on capitol hill, including majorm policy initiatives, infrastructure, tax care, health reform. expose the winds not only keep alive a string of g.o.p. victories in 2017, they amplify the political capital of the president, especially at a time when some polls have given him relatively low marks, including the leg latest cbs survey combo showed a mere 36% of americansth approve of his job performance, though it should also be noted that p a same poll found thatfa most people believe he has faced far more criticism than his predecessors, making tonight's victories in his endorsement all the more important moving

forward into 2018. >> here's why it matters. it is going to energize one side and deenergize the other. particularly, and their recruitment of candidates. this is prime recruitment season. >> bret, while there is no empirical evidence of the republicans twitter endorsements, tipping the scalet in one direction of the other, one thing is certainly clear. has voters and those in the g.o.p. spokeot with a very loud and clear voice. just as they have in every special election in 2017. bret. >> bret: kevin, thank you. when we return, butev this years special elections could mean for congressional races in 2018. ♪ and two in the reserves. our 18 year old was in an accident. when i call usaa it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. it actually helped to know that somebody else cared and wanted make sure that i was okay. that was really great.

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2018. correspondent allison barber joins us tonight with which way the political pendulum is swinging. good evening. >> good evening, bret. political aspects across theal country of spent a lot of time watching special elections. why? because manys analysts say the political parties will use her to figure out how they campaign in 2018. as we are already seeing tonight, tog try and predict winners in 2018. >> five states have found the special elections, california, montana, kansas, georgia, and south carolina. republicans have jeered victories in places like kansas and montana. montanaio special election, president trump back the republican candidate. republican greg gianforte won, even after assaulting ang reporter. >> i should not have treated that a reporter that way. >> but the pressure in georgia seemed different than the others..re for one thing, there is a lot of money in the game. as they go the base, the democratic party, is demanding

something to cheer about right now. democrats need to deliver. this is a district that they have poured an incredible amount of money and two. for democrats, a this is alreada win. omthis is evidence that in the 2018 election, even for safe republican districts, trump are such a factor that republicans are going to have to fight tooth and nail and spend tens of millions of dollars to hang onto it previously had been safe republican seats. >> and race like this, the marginou matters. turn out matters. >> at the end, one big picture question stays the same, what kind of hit strategies will work best in 2018? will republicans run with trump or away from him? how do they handle things like health care? at least at least one republicans is the strategy won't really change. >> republicans sure the policy agenda with the president. w and they will continue to advocate an advance that agenda, regardless of what happens in georgia today. >> as of this morning,

republicans held the house with 238 seats. democrats had 193. montana's greg gianforte takes office wednesday. bret. >> bret: thank you. let's talk more in depth about how tonight elections possibly affect the house. boxing your capitol hill producer chad program joins us tonight. good evening. what is your take? >> we always try to look at the special elections, they are just like that, they are special. sometimes, you can take something away from it, sometimes,in you can't. remember in may of 2010, there was a special election in pennsylvania, republicans that they have to get the seat to win the house of representatives. democrats held out, they held at that wall, as well. republicans left the house of representatives. they always trying to divine meaning. >> bret: the district in georgia has been redrawn numerous times. i grew up in that area. don't democrats need t a distrit like the sixth district of georgia to be able to flip the house? >> they need to get the suburban

districts like that. more so, they need these rural districts. d one of t the reason for democras won the house of representatives in 2006 is that they won alterable seats in rural indiana, ohio, western north carolina, those of the types of seats they need to win to flip the house. they are not in play at all in those districts. this is kind of like in hockey, bret, where you have one team thatth outplays the other, but there was a hot goaltender on the other side. you need your goalie to steal a couple of games. here, the democrats haven't been able to steal any of the seats. that is what they need to, something, a steal to get in the house. >> bret: overwhelmingly, that t was a trump folder in 2016. would ossoff's success, if you won tonight, be a recruiting tool to find that kind of candidate? and conversely, since he lost, does that hurt the effort? >> you are always looking for the model. thist' is a tried-and-true mode,

let's see if it works in the fall or 2018. by the same token, republicans will look at this and theyy will go back to the same playbook. it's called nancy pelosi. beat on nancy pelosi. they have done that since 2010. it works pretty well. that is why the chairman of the national republican campaign committee, the national organization inom charge of electing republicans to the house of representatives, he put out a statement that says, democrats through the kitchen sink at karen handel and it still backfired. nancy pelosi is still somewhat toxic. >> bret: it's not hard to make that mistake. she is the minority leader in the house. chuck schumer from new york is the leader in the senate. bernie sanders and elizabeth warren are the leaders of the party or the heart of it. it's kind of an easy thing to take. one more thing. georgia right now, karen handel is at five points. it is not completely done, but almost completely done. ralph moorman and south carolina come up 3.2. he won that race, therg republican. closer there than in georgia.

>> democrats will look for a silver lining. there wasn't that much attention in that particular race. they made that contents contest closer. remember at the end of the day come a political consultant on my consultants will tell you there's a lot of districts they can get to 48, 49%. they can't get them to 50.1. maybe that is what happens in georgia and south carolina. >> bret: great to have you here>> on a big night. thank you, chad. when we come back, the panel on what tonight special elections being for the trump agenda up on the hill. ♪ new tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites.

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ask your doctor about cialis. tonight, i stand before >> tonight, i stand before you extraordinarily humbled and honored that the tremendous privilege and high responsibility that you and the people across t the sixth distrt have given to me to represent you. it is that fighting spirit, the perseverance and tenacity that i will take to washington. it has been the driving force in my life and it will be the driving force for usa represent you. >> we showed the world that in places where no one thought it was possible to fight, we can fight. this is not the outcome many of us were hoping for. but this is the beginning of something much bigger than ours. the fight goes on. hope is still alive. >> bret: as we look at the race in georgia six, the congressional district in georgia six, republican karen handel, the big win tonight,

bigger than a lot of people projected. it is the first republican woman to beo sent to the house from e state of georgia. the president congratulating karen handel tonight. he tweeted a number of times about this race. he senior advisor, kellyanne conway, tweeting this...nw that sets the stage for our panel tonight. let's bring in our panel. charles heard, picking editor for "the washington post." annana palmer, and katie pavlic. charlie, big night for the president. big night for the white house. aho speaker without a doubt. for the past six weeks or more, we have been told that this is going to be a referendum on the president. as kellyanne conway pointed out in her twitteran message, he

outperformed his own performance in the district. when he won the election by a good at least five points. so, that was addressed that it is a tremendous win for the president. >> bret: there were a lot of projections l predictions. there were a lot of predictions. a lot of democrats across the nation, especially here in washington, who thought this thing was heading their direction. nate silver tweeted six days ago... so, i mean, again.. you look at polls, and they may be within the margin of error but they are tilting republican >> clearly, karen handel had a big night than anyone would have projected. as journalists are bad at this game. the last election clearly showed that. wee continue to do that, we will

continue to be not accurate. i think that this does show for democrats, they have a lot to be nervous about. this was a race where they had all of the money in the world, they had all of the energy and enthusiasm, they came very close in the primaries but they were not able to deliver. 0-4 means that they will have a very tough time in the midterm elections. >> bret: katie. >> the resistance movement has gone from being activists going to rallies, protesting, to staying there. their challenge going into 2018 is going to be being able to turn those people who are upset about the trump agenda into voters or get to the polls. i don't think republican thought this was going to be a race they should lose, certainly, you hadt newt gingrich campaigning on the president, of course, was involved.. the ground game was strong. although it is a republican district, americans for prosperity, a group responsible for the 2010 turnover of the house, had thousands of phone calls going out. 50,000 calls since may.

they didn'tte take it for grant. i certainly thought they had to put the work in. in terms of the left, they have to find out o what candidate thy want to run. do they run to the left as bernie sanders suggested? or do they go to the middle? this is another example of throwing spaghetti against the wall, against trump, hoping it will stick. here we are again with had not. >> bret: ultra spaghetti. $25 million plus. the most spent from outside groups and the candidates themselves ever in the u.s. house race. i mean, what does that tell us? does that tell us that at some point, money can't buy you love? damien, look at these numbers. it is really amazing. >> is staggering, considering it is politics. the rule of thumb,b, whoever has the most money, whoever raises the mostt money, wins. clearly, that is not the case here. what i think is particularly troubling for democrats is the fact that, i don't think that, although i love the idea of making this into a referendum about arnold drum, i don't think

it was necessarily a referendum onld donald trump. nancy pelosi was a far bigger name used in the campaign and the fact that here we are, however many years into her rain, and nancy pelosi is still a lightning rod? in-house races? people are winning races by saying, oh, if you like that person, he will represent nancy pelosi. >> bret: if you were tim ryan from ohio, who ran against nancy pelosiin for the house minority position, and loss, more moderate, are you saying, i told you so? >> [laughs] i think nobody really thought tim s ryan was a serious challenge. i do think for nancy pelosi, this is going to be another issue. what chad was saying earlier in the program, they need to enact these districts, they need to find the democrats that have disappeared from the party. if you are jon ossoff, you are candidate who is looking at jumping in, it is not a good

sign.ts >> bret: as the results were coming in, she was tweeting out pictures that u2 were fans. >> the grassroots people of the south -- but karen handel ran against ossoff of course. she also ran against nancy pelosi. what does nancy pelosi represent? the establishment of the democratic party, the problem on the left and what they are grappling with when it comes to the type of candidate they are trying to run. they really have to figure out what issues they are going to run on, ossoff campaigned heavily againstea the g.o.p. health care bill. if you look at the money we have been talking about, when you break it down by vote, it's about $200 per vote, which is more than jeb bush spent per boat and the primary. in terms of the money, money, as you said, doesn't always buy you love. yet, they are not going to be able to sink this much money into every single house race. they have to come up with better candidates. >> bret: a democrat tweeted tonight, "ossoff race better be

a wake-up call for democrats. business as usual isn't working for a time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future. we need a genuinely new message, aob serious job as planned, that reaches all americans, and a bigger tent, not a smaller one, focus on the future." here point, he is sounding the alarm bell. >> i think you will see that a lot among democrats this week when i come back into town. the issue is going to be, who is going to be that person that rises up? exit these members, the tim ryans of the party? so far, they have -- there hasn't been anyone except for trump that is unified to them. they haven't figured out what the messageset to try to get people to the polls. >> which is the problem with having a resistance message or an obstructionist message. it obfuscates any positive message. i have alwaysys felt that with e revolution that we have seen in

the last year or so was donald trump on the republican party, it has been very painful for republicans. what we are still waiting to see is that same revolution among democrats. it is because, bernie sanders has endorsed every single one of these people and he is gotten behind everyp single one of thee people, and they all lose in general elections it, and that is going to be something that democrats are going to have to -- it is a schism in the democratic party that they have to face at some points. >> bret: there is an up and been, if you will come overseas tonight. breaking news. the saudi king has named his son, mohammed bin salman, as the new crown prince, up and did what was the traditional movement there, and the royal succession, mbs, as he was known, was the person who came here and met with president trump. he is also the forward leaning younger version of the royals.

he is now in the position, if youd will, to be the next king f saudi arabia, and that is a big event for the saudis that i'm sure we will hear a lot about tomorrow. next up,t we focus on capitol hill. the way forward for the trump agenda and how tonight possibly affects that. ♪ it's our little differences, that can make a world of difference. expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. surfing is a sport that takes a lot out of you ♪ physically. from the moment i wake up on my tempur-pedic mattress i feel like i'm ready to take on the day.

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we have a lot of work to do. >> we have a lot of work to do, a lot of problems that we need to solve. >> so far, we are racking up wins. we have now lost one of these elections yet. >> the president will support republicans are bent onhe the ticket, especially to maintain our majorities in the house in the senate as we move forward. >> karen is keeping it local and she will come to washington and be a support to the white house and help us repeal and replace obamacare, past tax reform, and get jobs coming back to the district. >> bret: there is a lot of hope on the republican side, and perhaps, some wind in theirr sails for the agenda on capitol hill. we are back with our panel. katie, what does this do? we have a a senate health care bill, repeal and replace, we are expecting it is the -- we are expecting to see something about it on thursday. concern about getting theom 50 volts.

does this somehow bolster the ability of republicans to get something across the finish line? >> it gives republicans more credibility in terms of being able to say, we have not only won a presidential election, we have won enough special elections in a row on the issues that affect americans live. they are not talking about the russia scandal, they are talking about obamacare, tax reform, fighting terrorism. even ossoff discussed those things. he ran as a fiscal conservativet and talked about how he wanted to take out races. these are things that americans care about. in terms of the resistance movement, a reflection of some ofs' these lawmakers constituencies, they have to make a decision as to whether they want to continue that resistance, and look like they are obstructing product on my progress, getting things done in washington. or if they want to take a hard look and recognize why democrats across the aisle to vote for donald trump. >> bret: here is a house figure "america's newsroom" ." democrats to remake the

entire kitchen sink at this thing. they spent millions of $. it's a marginal marginal district. >> bret: pointing out that they spent tens of millions of dollars to lose. he put out apa statement, paul ryan has, congratulations karen handel, hard earned,ons well-deserved victory. karen would not be defeated, thl people are the big winners tonight. they have elected a representative who is going to tirelessly fight for them and their interests. i'm excited to have her as a partner in the house of representatives. i look forward to working with her. will this allow them to tackle them easier? >> i don't know if that's a ths them to tackle it easier. i know they are nervous about donald trump's low approval ratings. every day, it'sdal, a new scanda witch hunt, well they fire robert mueller? this gives them -- i do think

republicans and democrats alike are all about self-preservation, in terms of getting reelected.nn this gives them more breathing room in terms of republican leadership to trypu to move ther agenda forward. obviously, you have rasmussen, 50% number for approval rating. you have others down at 30, 36, 35. does that matter? >> it definitely matters. i do think that it's an important -- republicans are always skittish, anyway. they are really skittish right now. the idea that a republican is able to pull out -- this is a district where donald trump -- this is not trump country. this is as establishment republican as you can get. trump won by one point versus congressman price, who won by 23, 24 points. this is not a place where trump

does particularly well. if this is the canary in the coal mine, and handel is able to pull out a six-point win, that is going to give a lot of relief to republicans. >> bret: when i travel the country, this is the issue. tax reform. today, you w had the house spear talking about that. you had karen handel talking about it on the campaign trail. take a listen. >> president trump recently introduced a set of principles fornc tax reform and right now, we, the house, the senate, the white house, we are working together to turn them into a transformational tax reform plan. we want to make it easier for companies to sell american goods abroad. entering that success of your jobs here at home. >> the back taxes going to be very, very difficult in my district with auto manufacturing, with large retailers like dollar general and tractor supply. >> bret: that is not -- let's not herd the cats on this issue.

but when you talk about it, people say, yeah, forget about health care right now. give me the tax reform, at least businesses. >> this s is something that a lt of people can agree on because everybody, to some extent, pay some tax or hosted by other taxes with the irs. it's a long, arbitrary process. what paul ryan dared, talks about the fact that we spend millions of dollars, hundreds of hours of our time, trying to comply with the tax code that could put us in prison if we don't comply with the right way. americans respond to that. they also respond to things like them saying, we want you to submit your taxes on a postcard. we want to make it simple. go from seven tax brackets to three and most importantly, we believe that you are a better distributor of your money that you aren't on the government. you have seen your money come the federal government for years,edye you have seen it be wasted. just last week, the white house was talking about how we are -- this is something that people can identify with on a personal level. >> bret: they did in georgia

sixth and in south carolina's five. republicans of two big ones tonight. her big win for president trump at the white house. we'll see how it plays out. that is it for this "special report." still fair, balanced, and unafraid. ♪ runway models on the runway? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money evan saved by switching to geico. i would not wear that lace. hmm, i don't know? fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a dferent perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's.

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but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia >> sean: this is a fox news alert. welcome to "hannity," america was at a turning point. osofsky was taking place in the country, wide overturned election results in an effort to remove this president from office. the must-see opening monologue is less than a minute away. first we have the update on the special election in the georgia congressional sixth district. >> the sixth district will remain in republican control. karen handel beating ossoff in the most extensive recent history. held by tom price who is serving as president trump secretary of health and human services. while thanking her supporters, handel says she is ready to