In the deep-red northwest Georgia congressional district once represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Democrat Shawn Harris came in first in a special election Tuesday to fill the seat from which she resigned. He advances to an April 7 runoff against Republican Clay Fuller, who came in second.
The results, like those in a string of special election results recently, reflected anger across the country over President Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policies.
Trump had hoped that his endorsement of Fuller would propel him to a 50%-plus-one vote count, and therefore victory, without the need for a runoff election.
He went to the district to campaign for Fuller in the race, which featured 14 candidates, numbering nine Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, and an independent.
Fuller continued the hateful rhetoric that so many GOP candidates have been delivering on the campaign trail. He said he expects to get the votes of anyone who cast ballots for any of the other Republicans and described Harris as “too dangerous for our country.” He said that election of Harris on April 7 would be “a tragedy for Georgia and a tragedy for MAGA.”
Harris garnered 38% of the vote to the 35% cast for Fuller. He will not have an easy road toward November, however, since the 14th CD is one of the deepest red districts in Georgia. Trump carried it by 37 percentage points in 2024.
Whoever wins on April 7 will hold the job for the remaining months of Greene’s term. The congressional races take on extreme importance this year because the Republicans have only a slim majority of 218 to 214 in the U.S. House. What happens in any one district can change the balance of power in Congress in November. With public anger continuing to grow over rising prices and the war in Iran, it is expected that Democrats could win control of the House.
MSNow and other cable networks showed voters being interviewed when they exited their polling places. Any who said they opposed Trump’s policies said they voted Democratic rather than Republican.
Greene was a loyal Trump backer before she resigned. While in office, she gave full-throated support to conspiracy theories, including ones that pushed lies about the 2020 election having been stolen from Trump by Biden.
She became angry with Trump, however, when he refused to back her for a U.S. Senate race. She began attacking him over foreign policy and his stance on the Epstein files before finally leaving Congress.
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