. >> you heard jon ossoff. he was trying to ral ethe troops and looking ahead to june 20th as a possible run off date. this is an energized democratic party in a ruby red republican district and it's going to be a competitive battle the next couple of months. >> i want to bring in monue monue in atlanta. >> reporter: well, it's a pretty enthusiastic crowd. to finally hear from jon ossoff and as we're waiting for the snaf oo to be resolved. at fulton county, a lot of folks are getting antsy, want to know the results. but jon ossoff saying right off the bat we may not know what the final tally will be at the end of the night. i can tell you we are expecting new information to come in shortly about fulton county from today's vote in that all important county and if it does come in, we could have a projection determining whether or not mr. ossoff could win this out right. and likely against the former georgia secretary of state, karen handel. this crowd, while excited to hear from ossoff, also recognizing this figh

. >> only you can stop the super liberal democrats and nancy pelosi's group, in particular, jon ossoff you don't vote tomorrow, ossoff will raise your taxes, destroy your health care, and flood our country with illegal immigrants. >> and then he tweeted half dozen times about it. do you think that will prove to be a good call. >> i think it is. no part y wants to sit out a race. any candidate with $3 million could run a great race. he could have money in the bank. karen handel will not have money in the bank until tomorrow morning and she will need money to catch up. as people start looking at the candidates, karen has been county commission chairman in fulton county and was secretary of state and has been a successful business woman. she ran the suzanne b susan koh foundation and he doesn't even live in the district. >> shouldn't you be more worried that he doesn't live in the district and doing so well. >> no because when he was running with the republicans no one was paying attention to them because they could not he was the democrat choice and i think the party did good job on this

after 30-year-old political newcomer jon ossoff fell just short of an outright win. >> there is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ages. >> on june 20th, we keep the sixth district red and kick a little ossoff. >> he will face-off against karen in june for the seat held by the former press secretary. a preview of next year's mid-term elections. president trump taking credit for the results, hailing the run off as a win, despite ossoff's strong showing tweeting despite major outside money, fake media support and 11 republican candidates, big r win with run off in georgia. glad to be of help. the president was personally invested in the election, bashing the democratic contender in a barrage of tweets and even recording a robocall to encourage republicans to get out and vote. >> president trump beat hillary clinton in this republican stronghold by 1% last november, compared to mitt romney's decisive victory in 2012, prompting democrats to target the seat. $8.3 million into his campaign. this election comes as the president signs an executive order targeting highly skilled work

jon ossoff 50.4% with 72% of the vote in. reporting tonight that we need to tell you about. >>> the fbi investigation into russian medaling in the 2016 election possible connection to trump associates. you heard david axelrod say this continues to hang over the president and this administration. eper evan perez broke the story. what have you learned? >> reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn last year the fbi used a dos yare of russian ties as part of the justification to get approval to monitor trump associates. he's sited it as one of the sources that the fbi has used to support its investigation. this includes approval from the secret court that over sees fisa to monitor page's communications. to obtain court commission to target page, the fbi and justice department would have to present probable cause he was acting as an agent as a foreign power and possibly engaging in clandestine engagements. comey and others would have had to have signed off on this. though they have since said he had limited interactions with the campaign

well, this morning president trump fired up two other tweetss about jon ossoff tweeting, democrat jon ossoff would be a disaster in congress. very weak on crime and illal immigration. bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. say no. republicans must get out today and vote in georgia's sixth. forced runoff. an easy way. dem ossoff will raise your taxes very bad on crime and second amendment. oh, last night the president also recorded a robocall to be played on people's phones. here it goes. it's for republicans. >> i need you to get out to the polls tomorrow, april 18th, and vote republican. that way we can cut spending and get our economy back on track and keep america safe. it's already happening. there's only one way to stop the washington liberals from taking your congressional seat and your money and your safety, and that's by voting republican for congress tomorrow. >> well, the affluent suburb outside atlanta, north of atlanta, is in exactly the kind of district the democrats are eyeing if they did hope to ever take back the house in 2018, which is why president trump wants to fight

so we know we have an army of volunteers that are helping jon ossoff. i am going to be in georgia tomorrow. we have energy. and in mrs. handel, you have a candidate that is a very height candidate. she was the person who stopped supporting breast cancer screenings at planned

i want you to take a listen to jon ossoff. he spoke earlier on in georgia when he said it would go to a run-off. listen to what he had to say. >> your voices are gonna ring out across this state and across this country. we will be ready to fight on and win in june and there is no amount of dark money, super pac negative advertising that can overcome real grassroots energy like this. [ cheers and applause ] so bring it on. >> you heard jon talk about dark money, super pac money, is that a foreshadowing of how ugly this race is going to get in the weeks ahead before they go to the polls? >> yeah, i would also note, we should note here that his own campaign was not entirely grassroots. there was quite a bit of money coming out of where you and i are sitting right now, which is here in los angeles, out of hollywood. yeah, i think what tonight's race demonstrates is that this is going to be a hard-fought battle. democrats are going to try to spin this as a victory for democrats or at least that there's momentum behind democrats and

it's a district in which jon ossoff got 1.5 points more than hillary clinton. you cannot win in a district but still bode poorly for republicans. >> the truth of the matter is republicans in terms of voters didn't have anyone to coalesce around because it was split. 11 republican candidates. you can single out one. liz: the associated press being accused of bias after reporting that the fresno shooter shouted gois great instead of aallahu akbar which means god is greatest. john kelly is telling congressional critics to shut up. that's a direct quote. he's saying let agents do the jobs you guys wrote into law. he want them to do their job. we have the sound bite that's gotten a lot of applause. we have rod wheeler. he's also applauding after this. why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in bloo

democrat jon ossoff came this close, winning the 50% needed to claim outright victory in a race billedone of the first key referendums on the trump administration. ossoff faces a june 20th runoff against republican karen handel. joining me now in his first interview since his first place finish is the man himself. i'm guessing he's pretty tired. democratic candidate for congress, jon ossoff. first, congratulations on your first place finish, but why do you think you fell just short of what you needed? >> good morning, stephanie. thank you for having me. well, if you had told anyone a couple of months ago that a democratic candidate would be able to build a coalition this broad with this much grassroots support, come in first place by these kind of margins in a district that hasn't been competitive for decades, they would have been shocked. it's because of the grassroots intensity that we were able to pull it off. i'm thrilled by the result, ready to move forward and win in june. >> president trump would call it not necessarily grassroots, he would say it's gold plated. he tweeted this

tweeting, democrat jon ossoff would be a disaster in congress, weak on crime, and illegal immigration. bad for jobs and wants higher taxes, say no. race considered a big test for republicans and the president's agenda. and agenda that he was pushing in wisconsin today. president trump touring headquarters of toolmaker snap on. mr. trump's order calls for a review of policies to ensure federal agencies maximize their use of american goods as well as a review of the h-1b visa program. >> this election, the american people voted to end the theft of american prosperity. they voted to bring back their jobs and to bring back their dreams into our country. with this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world, we're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put america first. >> woo! [cheers and applause] lou: my first guest here is discuss critical special election in georgia, latest effort of republican party to push forward president trump's agenda, joining us, republican national committee chairwoman, rona mcdaniel, we appreciate you joining us on this special

jon ossoff fell under the threshold required for an outright win. as a referendum on the trump presid. >>> our top story this morning. the much watched election in georgia is headed to a run off. jon ossoff fell under the threshold required for an outright win. many see the race as a referendum on the trump presidency. newly discovered documents tell us about a long forgotten chapter in american history. >>> wow, how old is this? >> this is 1895. >> margaret is the archivist at the church where stored away are historical gems. >> this is the only child i have and i much desire to find him. they're called information wanted acts. they were written by newly freed slaves looking for lost family members that were sold or ran away. >> i wasn't familiar with them at all. i didn't know they were in there. >> how did that make you feel when you discovered that. >> i just said to myself this is a hidden treasure. >> villanova university history professor came looking for them as part of he research project last august. >> there's so few opportunities for us

host: who is jon ossoff? guest: a former hill staffer, he worked for hank johnson who represents a more liberal district in atlanta. he is running in a district north of atlanta, traditionally republican suburbs, he doesn't live in the district. he was a documentary filmmaker and exposing -- covering humanitarian crises around the world, and republicans are quick to attack him for touting that as a national security credential. host: let me show our audience some of the ads on air in atlanta. [video clip] >> is this what responsible leadership looks like? for those with pretisting conditions and low income seniors that could mean the difference between life and death. in congress jon ossoff will work to improve access to health care, not deny it. let's send a message to donald trump. vote for jon ossoff. >> liberal extremists will stop at nothing to push their radical agenda. they're demanding you vote for jon ossoff for congress. he is one of them. ossoff will vote with nancy pelosi for more spending and a w

jon ossoff will face karen handel in a run-off june 20th. e is seen as a possible predictor of next year's midterm election. >> ossoff fell short of the majority to win outright, but said his strong showing still sends a message. >> but let me tell you this, there is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ages. [ cheers and applause ] that no matter what the outcome is tonight, whether we take it all or whether we fight on, we have defied the odds. we have shattered expectations. >> well, president trump took a personal interest in the race and said this about tuesday's results. despite major outside money, fake media support and 11 republican candidates, big r win with run-off in georgia. glad to be of help. >> we are also following another big election this one still to come, it's happening in brib. prime minister theresa may is calling for a snap election in june. for months she's promised there would be no early election, but now says opposition parties are trying to block her brexit plan and the country needs unity for a smooth

they spent $10 million in georgia to help jon ossoff, which is a big deal.iously, republican spent $5 million on their own. there is no question that these races are fueled by some sort of feeling toward donald trump. donald trump this morning said he spoke to karen handel and karen handel set on fox news that she spoke to the president. it's interesting to see how closely he/she ties herself to the president ahead of the june runoff and whether he makes a trip to atlanta to campaign for her. that will be an interesting thing to see. >> jon: there were three camps of republican candidates this time around in that race. i think of the 11 candidates, there were a handful that were close to trump, pro-trump, there were a couple, and she was one of them who were lukewarm on trunk, and then there was one very vocal anti-republican candidate. she is going to have to decide essentially how tightly does she want to tie her campaign apron strings to the president. >> also, you're going to look at montana and a couple weeks where there is also another special election

jon ossoff leads but democrats see opportunity.pectacular $8.3 million and has the full support of the leading nationaler democratic groups. it is a special election. so if no candidate hits the 50%, the top two finish letters face off in june. ossoff has been floating in the 40% range recently. 42% in this research poll from last week. ahead of a host republican candidates including dan moody, karen handel, judd son hill. republicans are throwing everything they have to keep him from hitting 50% attacking him for erstating his national security experience ask h ties to national democrats. >> jon ossoff lied about his resume. and at a time when america needs serious leadership, jon ossoff failed the test. >> now ossoff is trying to hide his liberal values. the truth is he will rubber stamp. >> described as a mouth piece for terrorists, has been paying jon ossoff thousands of dollars. >> jon ossoff, not serious, not ready. >> the republican hope is that if they force the tloeks a run-off, they can defeat ossoff in a run-off one-on-o

and the people who live in the sixth are choosing jon ossoff.that he is -- he is with standing an assault that is withering. and despite all of that and everything that everybody is saying about him and his age and the wonderful young woman that he has as his girlfriend who is a student at emory university, despite all of that, it is thin our reach to close this out. that'shy we can't back up, we can't be discouraged by these typical republican tactics of just gross hostility towards candidates. i think right now we have to focus on the ground game, which as you talked about we are. i think the sixth wants to send a message to president trump that he really has gone too far. any other republican would be up, up 10, 20 points and that's not the case. we intend to take the fight to the ix is entake the formula and spread it across the united states into congressional races that are far more competitive. >> as you know, democrats tried to flip mike pompeo's seat in kansas in the special election an they did move 20 points from where president trump

i can't thinof anybody less qualified to represent the 6th district of georgia, than jon ossoff. lou: in south carolina. mulvaney, and south carolina -- those two seats coming up. are you confident of success in retaining those. >> we're working in those seats, the rnc is focused on the ground gain, and identifying our likely voters putting staff on the ground to turn them out and communicate to the voters, the democrats are energized, they are coalescing around being part of obstruct, of resist, of no, there no message. lou: resist and no, don't appeal to you for a mantra for a political party. >> i don't know about you, but i would like my government leaders to get things done and work for me, when they are paid by my taxpayers dollars, but democrats are on strike, every case they are fighting the president, and actually fighting good policies that will help american people. lou: speaking of fighting the president, no one is doing more of that than house speaker paul ryan. he has blown the repeal and replace of obamacare, he has said, flat out, he will not seek funding for the

president trump said, "democrat jon ossoff would be a diss aast in congress". >> if you don't vote tomorrow will flood or country with illegal immigrants. >> jon ossoff well aware that president trump is paying close attention to this race. >> well, i appreciate the president's interest in the race, although he's misinformed with respect to my priorities. this race is about local economic issues and values that unite people in the community in georgia before it's about the national political circus. everyone is looking for national implications but all politics is local. >> randy evans is with me from georgia and senior adviser to newt gingrich's presidential campaign. and he represented tom price during his election in this sixth congressional district. and he can understand how tough it can be to run as a democrat. he lost to tom price in 2012. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> randy, first to you, since you go back with speaker gingrich for years and years and years. you know georgia. this district has been turned blue for nearly four decades. to the republican, you know how we sa

for jon ossoff, his people knocking on doors, mobilizing people. i think among democrats, there still a dissatisfaction with the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. there's a lot of boiling going on in washington right now with immigration. >> we will definitely see where this takes us, but we appreciate you being here with us, dennis. the associated press particularly arrived in the georgia special election which will be on june 20th. of course we will continue to follow the story and bring all the updates. now go back to regular . that cause nasal congestion and itchy, watery eyes. for relief beyond the nose. flonase. including the full-sized introducingsprintercedes-benz family of vans. and the mid-sized metris. ...if these are your wingtips... ...if this is your gourmet latte... then these are your vans. vans for professionals. strictly professionals. best commercial van residual value according to alg and starting at just $25,995. mercedes-benz. vans. born to run. ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy

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referendum on him, particularly if he falls short and democrats get that 50 plus 1 percent and jon ossoff is the first democrat to hold this seat in 27 years. a lot of the votes to go. ossoff doing better than what many thought. >> we will see once all the votes are counted. want to bring in gloria borger. can one read so much into the results from this election? democrats, if he wins, you are going to be spinning this as a huge blow to the president. >> yeah. i can certainly tell you, anderson, that both sides are going to overinterpret the results no matter what they are. i think you raise a really good point. we need to be careful about extrapolating this one night into now we know how november 2018 is going to go. we won't. but it is correct that if indeed the democrat wins outright tonight, what that does is that is going to rattle the republican party in super a significant way that it may impede donald trump from being able to get his legislative agenda through, which hasn't been easy so far. it really does have the ability to shake the republican party into a fearful place about w

>> let me assure you, anderson, even if jon ossoff wins he's not going to win by 70%.that number is going to go down. this district has portions of three counties that touch it. this is just the early and absentee vote from dekalb can, a big democratic county overall, we would expect knowing that the democrat reporting did quite well in the early vote, it actually is one of the things that started giving republicans pause and concern about this race. we expected him to have this early lead. i would not read much more into it than that. his number is going to come down, it is likely that the republicans did a bit better perhaps on election day voting. we'll see as the night goes on as more numbers come in. >> we talked about this yesterday, newt gingrich held this district for 30 years, trump won it by 1 percentage point. >> this is a district that republicans salivate over, because they think this is precisely the kind of distribute they can flip in 2018 and maybe take back control of the house. and you look at this district that david was talking about, it's more dive

a top contender, democrat jon ossoff.d celebrity endorsements, a ton of money pouring in, and he is giving republicans a run for their money in a seat that republicans have held since the '70s. >> yeah, this morning the president took aim. he wrote "democrat jon ossoff will be a disaster in congress, very weak on crime and illegal immigration, bad for jobs and wants higher taxes. say no!" and last night, again, republicans were clearly nervous, released this robocall. >> only you can stop the superliberal democrats and nancy pelosi's group, and in particular, jon ossoff. >> the menacing, purple squiggley line. cnn's jason carroll covering this for us in georgia. jason, the polls are open and people are out. >> reporter: they are open and people are out, and a lot of people are watching in terms of what's going to happen here at these polls. and all eyes seem to be on this man, jon ossoff. political novice who has managed to raise more than $8 million for his campaign. unheard of, considering this is someone 30 years old,

district that hasn't sent anyone but a republican to washington in 37 years, ipg the victory that jon ossoff is darn remarkable. the fact we're competitive in a district like this is significant, and listen, again, i like ossoff's chances against someone like handel who's been rejected repeatedly by georgia voters and folks know well and don't like at all when you look at her favorability ratings. cheryl: when it comes down to her, erin, her versus ossoff, democrat versus republican, and this is the state of georgia. >> that's right, and ossoff -- excuse me, neil, she asked me to speak quick leashing thank you very much. if you watch ossoff's videos online, han solo doing keg stands? stop it. he is completely unqualified, completely unprofessional. he doesn't live in the place he's supposed to live. shame on him and shame on the voters who voted for him. cheryl: to be fair, neil, he did explain that, neil. and i want to give neil a chance. >> the republican nominee took down a breast cancer organization by attacking planned parenthood. that's what her politics are. extreme right-wing politic

then at 6:38 this morning on twitter "democrat jon ossoff would be a disaster in congress, very weak on crime and illegal agree bad for jobs. say no." 18 minutes later he was back at it. "republicans must get out today and vote in georgia 6, force run off, an easy win. democrat ossoff will raise your taxes." then again this afternoon" just learned that jon ossoff who's running for congress in georgia doesn't even live in the district. republicans, get out and vote." here's how the candidate answer that is criticism. >> i grew up in this district. i grew up in this community. of course no one knew there was an election coming. i've been by emory university about ten minutes down the road supporting my long-time girlfriend allysha while she concludes her medical training. >> president trump carried the district by a thin margin. it's a largely prosperous district with a high percentage of college educated voters. more on that in a moment. a loss ultimately could spook republicans heading into 2018. it is possible we saw an early version of what we're talking about, what that could look

after 30-year-old political newcomer jon ossoff fell just short of an outright win. >> there is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ages. >> on june 20th, we keep the sixth district red and kick a little ossoff. >> he will face-off against karen in june for the seat held by the former press secretary. a preview of next year's mid-term elections. president trump taking credit for the results, hailing the run off as a win, despite ossoff's strong showing tweeting despite

and the money was important and relevant in boosting jon ossoff. but is that repeatable. >> i think we could do that in the next 60 days here. by the way, he was outspent 2 to 1.

and, you know, what jon ossoff is saying is, even though this district has been in republican hands for 40 years, even though tom price won it by more than 20 points in 2016, that because there are so many college-educated voters, which is the most skeptical white constituency of trump, he's trying to rally them. he's got a shot to do it. >> all right, john, we'll see. thank you so much for joining us, john harwood in atlanta tonight. >> reporter: you bet. >>> now to the economy and the latest report on housing. builders broke ground on fewer homes in march. according to the commerce department, housing starts fell nearly 7% last month. that decline came after strong gains during a warm february. despite the pullback, the pace of construction so far this year is stronger than in 2016. >>> the list of fed officials calling for the central bank to trim its bond holdings is getting longer. today esther george, head of the kansas city fed, warned against waiting too long to do so. she's urged the fed to hike interest rates in the past. minutes from the last meeting show that most policymake

but bob also points out, it doesn't look like jon ossoff is going to get to 50.hat happened was, late in the game, donald trump made some robo calls and they in a press to get behind the republican candidate. karen had dell. she did better. they need to make sure ossoff doesn't get to 50 and the whisper is that by june 20, the runoff. she will get more support. >> dana: karen handel was given a little bit of a boost because the chairman who had worked on president trump's campaign in that area endorsed her. that haven't happened before today. what do you think kimberly? >> kimberly: the kimberly guilfoyle institute, highly regarded. it's a big boost and they should've consolidated an end a larger push. they are like, now okay let's focus and get behind it. 95% of this guys money is coming from outside the district and he doesn't even live inside the district. it is hardly charming at this point. it's all about against trump. you have hollywood celebrities doing ads. ultimately i don't think he's going to get it. >> greg: why is this election getting any attention

joining us is jon ossoff. it's nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you, rachel. fan of the program. >> does it help you or hurt you in your effort to win this race that you are being seen as kind of a national bellwether, a test of the sentiment for or against this new president? >> well, the truth is, i'm not entirely sure. there's obviously a lot of national interest and national attention, folks looking for national implications and many in the community here who have deep concerns about the direction of things in washington right now and the administration. i share those concerns and i speak to those concerns but one of the reasons the campaign was able to perform so well earlier this week, i've been working on building a coalition that unifies people around a vision for our local economic development and around shared values that unite people in the community rather than focusing on divisive nationalized politics. >> you are running in a district that is relatively high income district. it's a racially diverse district. it's a ve

so he voted early for jon ossoff, he told me yesterday. that's the dynamic that's here. i think the question, if ossoff can break 50% it would be a real sign that there are potential surprises on the horizon for republicans and that they need to prepare for the kind of potential wave or surprising change that we saw maybe back in 2010 when the tea party wave took a lot of people by surprise. you remember, there is often an assumption that the house of representatives will never change. it's static because the trends are baked in. that just wasn't the case back when there was a lot of opposition to george w. bush and the iraq war. the question on the table now is, is that opposition to trump going to manifest itself this way. this is a good early flair but i wouldn't read too much into it. there is still a lot between now and the 2018 elections. >> that's a smart point. turn around for a minute. you are at a voting spot now. what is it like? do you see a decent flow of people? how does the turnout -- i know we can't gauge turnout based on one spot, but what are you seeing?

and jon ossoff almost pulled off a stunner. he almost won this congressional seat in the republican hands since 1979. almost is still just almost. nai naire president trump thanked himself for what he called a big win. he said "glad to be of help." one republican senator a southerner says essentially we need to be careful. >> the south is changing. atlanta is changing. and i like our chances in a runoff but we need to wake up as a party. there are districts like this all over the country that are getting more moderate. this should be a wake-up call for the republican party in the south. >> we've all been following this race. alex burns, just little picture why the couldn't jon ossoff get to 50? what kept him at 48.1%? >> look, i mean it's not the big, big picture but the medium-sized picture is that this is one of these congressional districts the democrats would very much like to compete in in 2018 but historically it has been very, very republican. last fall, you had donald trump win the seat, a very, very anywhere rowley lea

and right now, jon ossoff is winning it.ans who spent $4 million attacking jon ossoff turn a win into a loss by raising the standards so high. this shouldn't be close. i shouldn't be on "morning joe." you all shouldn't even be talking about this race. right now, jon ossoff is going to win tonight and then he's going to close it out. >> mike barnicle. >> what's the driving issue or issues in this campaign? what's pushing this thing? >> i think that folks want a true bipartisan elected official working on solving problems in congress. i think that they like that jon ossoff is a fresh face, but he also has a depth of knowledge when it comes to policy and i think that they like his focus on growing our technology sector, which was recently talked about in "forbes" magazine as one of the most exciting and top three emerging technology sectors in the country. a lot of that would be in jon ossoff's congressional district. >> all right. >> mayor reed, thank you very much. we'll see what happens. >> all right. >> let's take a look at

you've got this guy, jon ossoff. he is just 30 years old. what he's managed to do is get the democratic party to coaless around him. he's managed to tap into the democrat democrat democratic aings. even though as i said he's gotten a number of democrats to rally behind him, a number of gop candidates say, look, this is a district that is still going to be reliably republican. you look at the person who gave up his seat to become the health and human services secretary and you have got the president now weighing in. not just on twitter yesterday but again today. jon ossoff talked about what is like to get all that attention from the president. >> i appreciate the president's interest. it sounds like he's misinformed about my priorities. >> what makes you think you have a chance to win? >> well, the polling and the early vote numbers show that we're within striking distance. we are certainly going for an outright win here today. but a special e lelks lection i special and difficult to predict. it will all come out to turnout. >> when it comes

closely watched congressional election is headed to a run off this morning. 30-year-old democrat jon ossoff was the top vote getting in the 18 candidate primary. he is trying to at the identify the odds in take georgia's 6th congressional district that voted republican since 1978. he'll face the republican in the june run off. president trump used twitter to urge republicans to vote in an election that some see as a referendum on his presid roxanna is here. good morning. >>> good morning, ossoff had the support of grass roots activists and millions in donations but fell short of the majority needed to win out right in a race that has national implications. >> democrat jon ossoff took the stage tuesday night gearing up to flip georgia's 6th congressional seat in two months time. >> there is no doubt that this is already a victory for the ag ages. >> democrats pumped millions of dollars into his campaign hoping the 30-year-old former congressional staffer would win yesterday's special election outright. that would have turned the district from red to blue for the first time in nearly 40 years

jon's district is one of the reddest and sent me a picture of 150 ossoff supporters. and republicans are starting to get unnerved about it all of a sudden. >> sreenivasan: greg bluestein. thank you for joining me. >> this is pbs newshour weekend, sunday. ten years today marks ten years since the most lethal school shooting in the united states-- the 2007 massacre at virginia tech university. families of the 32 students and faculty slain that day. and survivors who were shot gathered for a midnight memorial service on campus. a candle was lit for everyone killed and each of their names were read aloud. members of the virginia tech corps of cadets stood guard over the flower-covered memorial for 32 minutes. this morning, virginia's governor and school officials laid a wreath at the outdoor memorial, at 9:43 am, the time when a mentally disturbed student, armed with two semi- automatic pistols, began shooting in a dorm and then a classroom. he later shot himself. there's a massive new crack in one of greenland's largest glaciers. it's located in the center petermann glac

the democrats do get over 50% today and jon ossoff wins, that's a big win. if republicans managed to win the seat back after all the attention democrats have given it, that to be noticed as well. >> jon: we know the the president has tweeted attacking the democratic candidate in the race. there are some who fully embrace the president, some are lukewarm toward him, and at least one of whom has shown to the president altogether. i guess we should not expect to see at this stage the president taking sides on the republican side. >> i don't think so. i think they are expecting a runoff in june and then the republican party will get behind one candidate. one of the problems of the republican party has had frankly and some of these races, and also the presidential race, is they have everybody run. it splits the vote. they don't unify behind one candidate and that causes a problem. nobody on the republican side is going to be able to get 50% today. >> no one made to it, but he may fall short. >> jon: as we mentioned earlier, he's a former congressional staffer. wha

let me remind people that jon ossoff didn't lose that race.polling at 42%, got darned close to 50, and there's now enthusiasm on the ground like there is no montana. the reason there's that enthusiasm is because we have a white house that won't release the white house logs. we have a white house, the visitor logs, a white house that continues to pay no attention to the ethics laws. we have a white house that acts in this super secret fashion. the president won't share his tax returns. those are the issues that around the country democrats and republicans look at and wonder how it is that this president is allowed to get away with that and that enthusiasm is translating into a lot of votes in these special elections. >> i make the argument congressman not enough for jon ossoff, right? it looks like karen handel will take the runoff in june. >> jon ossoff spent a lot of money going from zero name i.d. to over 49% of the vote. he beat kamp handel by two votes. lots of candidates now going into the general election, she's going to have to decide i

jon ossoff got 49% of the vote. it sends a run off with republican karen handel. >> shannon: we always have a race to cover and love doing it. i'm shannon bream. democrats hoping to claim a house seat by republicans since 1979. millions being poured in to support the democrats. >> on the republican side it's been a competitive campaign. no core nation that occurred on the democrat side. i think the president is interested in what happens here and why wouldn't he be? he is a republican president. of course he has a vested interest in making sure a republican holds the seat. >> shannon: john roberts joins us now live. the election in this historically conservative district goes to a runoff. race is at stakes ahead of the 2018 mid-terms. >> the masters golf tournament went to a playoff and so will this race. jon ossoff came closer to 50% than republicans thought he would or liked him to. in a field of five candidates he collected 48.1% of the vote and karen handel had 19.8%. they head for a runoff on the 20th of june.

. >> the special election yesterday in the state of georgia, the democrat jon ossoff almost reachingt 50% mark that he needed to avoid a runoff. didn't get there. he'll face a runoff in june with karen handel, the republican candidate. you see the results, 48.1. he needed 50% plus 1% in order to avoid the runoff. the president tweets dems failing. great job, karen handel. it is now hollywood versus georgia on june 20th. >> the trump spin so outside the raemt of reality. this was a real warning shot to republicans. you had an upstart democrat in a solidly red district doing a pretty good job. had to spend a lot of money. republicans had to spend a lot of money. what's telling about that tweet, hlds versus whatever he said. there's still -- you see it in trump. the danger for democrats even where they do well and even where the base is excites, they're still vulnerable to being liberals. and there are a lot of republicans out there, even if they're like in that district they tend to be more establishment, well educated republican voters may not be wildly enthusiastic about trump, they

tonight jon ossoff is running at 43% in the polls. his closest challenger is at 12%.op two finishers will face each other in a runoff election, unless one of the candidates gets over 50% of the vote. the district is in suburban atlanta. it has been a republican district for 38 years. this used to be newt gingrich's district. the leading republican candidate is karen handel, who used to be vice president of the komen foundation. she resigned from the foundation after she urged them to cut off grants to planned parenthood. today at an event closed to the press, president trump quietly rolled back protects for planned parenthood, signing a bill that will allow states and local governments to withhold federal money to planned parenthood. democrat jon ossoff joins us next. t. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china. oh ... he got there. that's the power of

tweets against the candidate. >> only you can stop this super liberal democrats and in particular, jon ossoff. >> the president took credit for the outcome tweeting quote, despite major outside money, fake media support, big r win with runoff in georgia, glad to be of help! ossoff got more than $8 million in contributions, most of it from outside of georgia. he reported more individual contributions from the bay area than his home state. >>> the president focused on veterans this morning. he met with the va secretary in a closed-door meeting. president trump is preparing to sign an extension to a bill that allows veterans to get medical help from private providers if they can't get it at the va or if they live too far away from a va facility. >> we're all united by a very common mission. we will protect those who protect us. i have been saying that a lot over the last two years. rallies, speeches. we will protect those who protect us. >> the program is first established in response to the va crisis back in 2014. it was set to expire this year. instead lawmakers voted unanimously in the senate

democrats not falling short after all the attention from the left could be demoralizing. >> if jon ossoffets up 43% of the vote, republicans can point at him and say he barely got more than the baseline democratic vote. >> today republicans have been attacking ossoff for living outside the district while george outlaw allows him to run for congress, he could not vote in today's election. ossoff explained to cnn that while he grew up in district 6, he currently lives about 10 minutes outside with his longtime girlfriend to support her as she finishes medical school. >> bret: the president tweeted about not being able to vote in the district as well. jonathan serrie, thank you. alabama's new governor has moved up a special election to fill the senate seat formerly held by jeff sessions. the new governor has set august 15 for the primary, iran for september, and the general election for december 12. that reverses former governors planned to wait until 2018. bentley resigned from office last week. the election oversees coming up, british prime minister theresa may is calling for early electio

cabinet bagger jon ossoff nearly failed the victory..3 million reasons to think the rumble in the ju