Congresswoman Karen Handel has held policy and communications positions with several major corporations and nonprofits. She also served in the Bush-Quayle White House, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and as CEO of one of Georgia's largest chambers of commerce, leading that organization out of near-bankruptcy.

 

In elected office, Congresswoman Handel has been a trailblazer. She is the first woman to be elected Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. As Chairman, she quickly distinguished herself as a problem-solver and smart negotiator - plugging a $100 million budget deficit without raising taxes, delivering the county's first truly balanced budget and achieving significant ethics reforms. She also spearheaded the county's negotiations for the formation of the City of Sandy Springs.

 

One of just five women ever to be elected to statewide office in Georgia, Congresswoman Handel served as Georgia's 26th Secretary of State (and first Republican Secretary of State). In this role, Congresswoman Handel successfully implemented various elections integrity reforms, including photo ID, and executed a much-needed agency-wide modernization initiative, while cutting the department's budget by nearly 20 percent.

 

Elected in June 2017, she is serving her first term as the 6th District Congresswoman, which includes North Fulton, East Cobb and parts of DeKalb County. She emerged from an 18-field special election and successfully navigated what is the most expensive congressional race in history to become Georgia's first Republican woman ever to be elected to the United States Congress. Congresswoman Handel serves on the Judiciary Committee, as well as the Education and Work Force Committee.