SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Reuters) – Republican Karen Handel won a hotly contested Georgia congressional race on Tuesday, CNN reported, fending off a Democratic challenge in a race that was widely seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump.

With more than 65 percent of the votes counted, CNN predicted that Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, would defeat Democrat Jon Ossoff, a political newcomer who sought to wrest control of a suburban Atlanta district that has elected Republicans to Congress since the 1970s.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)

IMAGE: Karen Handel, Republican candidate for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, leaves after speaking to supporters during a brief appearance at her election night party at the Hyatt Regency at Villa Christina in Atlanta, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Bita Honarvar