THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Then come June 21, Karen Handel can take her bullshit and walk. In the special election for Georgia 6th district, Jon Ossoff is running away with the money race.

Jon Ossoff, the Democrat running in a closely watched special House election in Georgia, raised over $15 million in the last two months, vastly exceeding his Republican rival and shattering fund-raising records, according to federal campaign finance documents filed on Thursday.

Karen Handel, the Republican candidate for the suburban Atlanta district seat, raised approximately $4 million in the same period. But she began the final stretch before the June 20 runoff election with slightly more cash available than Mr. Ossoff, who had already spent much of his money to reserve television advertising time.

The contest to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, was already the most expensive House race in history. Mr. Ossoff has now raised over $23 million and Ms. Handel, who only became the Republican nominee after the initial balloting in April, has brought in over $4.2 million. In a sign of the intense national interest in the race, much of the money came from outside Georgia.

In addition to the candidates’ own fund-raising, the national parties and allied groups have swooped in with millions more. The largest Republican groups have spent about $12 million on behalf of Ms. Handel, while Democrats have just spent over $6.7 million on behalf of Mr. Ossoff in the same period.

The biggest spender among the third-party groups has been the Congressional Leadership Fund, a so-called super political action committee aligned with the House Republican leadership, which has poured in more than $6.2 million to attack Mr. Ossoff.

The astonishing fund-raising totals illustrate the stakes of a campaign that both parties fear losing.

Regardless of how much money is spent or who the voters actually prefer, it must never be forgotten that the Republicans control the voting machines and software that will actually produce the winning numbers. In the end, their ability to turn a total disaster into an old time Soviet 99% win is what counts.