Editor’s Note: Anti-Trump isn’t enough for Democrats

The Twitter-verse isn’t generally a friendly place, but the barrage of tweets following Republican Karen Handel’s Tuesday victory in the much-watched Georgia congressional race were especially untoward — with much of the heat directed at conservatives.

Democrats and others on the left are reading some interesting things into the GOP win of Georgia’s 6th District. A national influx of roughly $25 million — the most ever spent on a U.S. House race — couldn’t get Democrat Jon Ossoff, 30, over the finish line. He lost by a nearly 4-point margin.

Just as Democrats accused Republicans of being sexist and racist for not electing Hillary Clinton last November, that seems to be the go-to excuse now. Jill Filipovic, a lawyer and author of the recent book, “The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness,” observed this about the race in Georgia, won by a woman:

“At what point is this not a failure of Democrats but toxic, vindictive voters willing to elect hateful bigots?” And then she continued: “At some point we have to be willing to say that yes, lots of conservative voters are hateful and willing to embrace bigots.”

The reality is that Republicans have represented the Georgia 6th since 1979, and Handel replaces Tom Price who became the Health and Human Services secretary. And it could be that Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker and former congressional staffer, didn’t appeal to residents because even though he grew up in the district, he now lives in Atlanta — several miles outside the district.

Democrats must look beyond anti-Trump rhetoric if they hope to do better in the 2018 midterms.

“Nothing preps you for next election more than concluding your team is too virtuous to win & voters are too evil or dumb to see the truth,” tweeted Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at National Review.