All eyes are on Georgia as voters head to the polls on Tuesday to determine who will replace former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in the state's 14th House district. After a public falling out with President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, Greene announced in November that she was resigning from Congress, and her last day in office was January 5.
Gov. Brian Kemp set March 10 as the special election date, and if no one candidate gets 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff on April 7. All candidates, regardless of party, will appear on the ballot together. Unless something wild happens, a runoff is expected.
The field is quite crowded. Initially, 22 candidates qualified, but a handful have dropped out. That includes three Democrats, a Libertarian, an Independent, and 17 Republicans.
Leading the GOP field is the candidate endorsed by Trump, Clay Fuller. He's a former district attorney of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. A graduate of Emory University, where he played on the basketball team, Fuller is also a Lt. Colonel and a Deputy Staff Judge Advocate in the Air National Guard. He's primaried against MTG in the past and lost.
"It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Clay Fuller, who is running to represent the wonderful people of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District," Trump posted on social media last month. "Clay Fuller has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Georgia’s 14th Congressional District — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!"
Many in the media are calling the election a test to see just how much Trump's endorsement means to voters.
Other Republicans on the ballot include: Star Black (a former FEMA employee), Beau Brown (a risk engineer), James Marty Brown (a small business owner and retired firefighter and paramedic), Regan Box (a rancher and equestrian), Jared Craig (an attorney), Eric Cunningham (a Pinsly Railroad Company executive), Tom Gray (a pastor and former Kennesaw State University professor), Larry Hilley (self-employed), Christian Hurd (a U.S. Marines veteran), Trey Kelly (a former Fulton County GOP chair who works in finance), Nicky Lama (a real estate developer and Dalton County commissioner), Colton Moore (former state senator), Brian Stover (a former Paulding County commissioner and waste management company owner), Megahn Strickland (a travel consultant), Jim Tully (a senior field representative in Greene's office and Georgia Republican Party chairman for the 14th district), and Jenna Turnipseed (a U.S. Army veteran and high school JROTC instructor).
The Democrats are Jim Davis (a political writer and retired business owner), Shawn Harris (a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General), and Jonathan Hobbs (a patent law practitioner).
Andrew Underwood is the Libertarian running, and Rob "Rush" Ruszkowski is the independent.
Because of the sheer number of candidates, a runoff is almost a certainty. Election-day predictions are that it will be Harris vs. Fuller. Fuller appears to be leading the GOP pack, thanks to Trump's endorsement, while Harris ran against Green in 2024 and got 35.6% of the vote, which is the highest turnout for a Democrat since the district was created.
Georgia's 14th sits in the northwest part of the state, and while it's home to cities like Rome and includes part of the Chattanooga suburbs, it's largely made up of small cities and rural areas. It's one of the reddest parts of the state and one of the reddest districts in the country. But its people tend to vote based on their values rather than uniting behind a certain candidate or party, and will stay home if they don't feel like they're represented on the ballot, so anything can happen.
Keep up with the results below, thanks to our friends at Decision Desk HQ:
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