McClatchy reports that after losing a string of three special elections in a row Democrats are “facing real pressure” to actually win the special election to succeed now-HHS Secretary Tom Price, in which ex-Georgia Secretary of State Republican Karen Handel is battling ex-congressional aide Democrat Jon Ossoff in a June 20 runoff. I’m sure it would a welcome change for the Democrats to not have to claim victory after losing yet another election.

According to McClatchy’s Katie Glueck and Alex Roarty the contest “is setting up to be the party’s last opportunity to score the kind of early electoral victory that its fervent base craves, and it will be a major test of whether progressive energy can translate into actual votes as Democrats seek to expand their midterm map.”

Democrats have poured unprecedented cash and resources into this special election and it has become the most expensive U.S. House contest in history. The suburban Georgia district voted for Mitt Romney by 24 points four years ago, but President Donald J. Trump carried it by just over one point last November.

The New York Times reports that the GA6 special election is also a testing ground for Republican midterms Trump strategy — do they run with President Trump or against him? According to the Times, a collection of conservative advocacy groups is grappling with that question and are discovering that they will have to do both:

The trick for Republicans and their allied outside groups is figuring out how to avoid conspicuously embracing the president without alienating conservative voters who would view any overt rebuff as a betrayal.

Early voting begins today in the GA6 June 20 runoff and continues through June 16.