MARIETTA, GA — The husband of Georgia's 6th Congressional District candidate Karen Handel retweeted an image Tuesday that included a message for voters to "free the black slaves from the Democratic plantation."

It is unclear how Steve Handel's social media gaffe will affect the race, which pits Republican Karen Handel against first-time candidate, Democrat Jon Ossoff, and is being viewed by many as a litmus test of President Donald Trump's popularity. The controversial Twitter image, which was retweeted or forwarded from another account, has since been deleted by the original poster and has vanished from Steve Handel's account as well. SIGN UP: To get more election news, click here to sign up for the Marietta Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

Handel's campaign quickly responded to the flub, saying that her husband had not been paying attention to the commentary of the tweet, which was accompanied by a picture of the former secretary of State with the titles "Handel Will Fight For Minorities To Excel" and "Join The Movement." In the tweet, her picture was juxtaposed next to an image of a black man in a suit with the following words, CNN reports:

"Criticizing black kids for obeying the law, studying in school, and being ambitious as 'acting white' is a trick Democrats play on Black people to keep them poor, ignorant, and dependent. Free the black slaves from the Democratic plantation."

The Handel campaign said the tweet had been taken down and was not appropriate. Below is the same image from another user:

Karen Handel Under Fire After Husband Shares "Free Black Slaves from Democratic Party ... https://t.co/PZj8UCxE9W

— Hinterland Gazette (@hinterlandg) May 2, 2017 "Like many of us, he (Steve) made a mistake and retweeted something he didn't pay a lot of attention to, thinking it was just an absentee vote message. It clearly was not appropriate and has been deleted," a campaign spokesperson told CNN.



Steve Handel has not exactly stayed in the background during the 6th District campaign. During the run-up to the April 19 special election, he appeared in a Handel For Congress ad as a foil illustrating the "games" that other candidates were said to be playing.



The mishap comes the same day that Karen Handel released an ad that shows a more personal side. In the one-minute spot titled "Story," she highlights some of her early years, including leaving home when she was 17 years old to escape a "pretty tough and difficult" family environment. 6th District Race: New Poll Shows Ossoff, Handel In Dead Heat