ROME, Ga. (Georgia Recorder) – The race to become northwest Georgia’s next congressman is heading to an April runoff after no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote in a crowded field of competitors in Tuesday’s election.
Democrat Shawn Harris was the top vote-getter, walking away with about 37% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office as of late Tuesday night.
Harris is a farmer and retired brigadier general with the U.S. Army who has 40 years of military experience. He ran as a moderate Democrat, emphasizing economic and veterans’ issues.
“We’re going to stay laser focused on kitchen table issues, because right now, gas prices are out the roof. Costs are crazy. You can’t buy milk in Publix. You can’t even pay your bills,” Harris said to supporters Tuesday night.
Harris spoke to an excited crowd, largely decked out in campaign T-shirts, outside his Rome campaign headquarters.
“As long as we stay focused on that, guess what? Democrats, independents and yes, Republicans, are going to continue to vote for me,” he said.
Harris ran against Greene in 2024 and earned just over a third of the votes.
Republican Clay Fuller, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, came in second place with about 35% of the vote.
“For those of you that were questioning how important President Donald J. Trump is to this country, to Georgia 14th and the state of Georgia, you look at that screen behind me and you see what this man means to the people here in this community, what he means to the people in this country, what he means to the MAGA movement,” Fuller said at this election night watch party.
Fuller made his name as district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. His supporters gathered in an event space attached to an outdoor goods store not far from Harris’ event in Rome.
Antler-adorned chandeliers and canoes hung from the rafters as Republicans watched results come in on their phones and a TV screen.
Fuller told the crowd that Trump had “entrusted our campaign to carry forward the MAGA movement into the next decade.”
Trump came to the district late last month in part to stump for Fuller and other endorsees.
The Trump endorsement was likely decisive in the crowded GOP field, said Kennesaw State University political science professor Kerwin Swint.
“I think it made all the difference,” he said. “I mean, Fuller was pretty well known already in the district, he has run before and he’s a pretty well-known commodity, but I think the Trump endorsement just did what it did for Brian Kemp (in 2018).”
Fuller ran in the district in 2020, receiving about 7% of the vote in another crowded race and losing to now-former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
But speaking to reporters after results came in, Harris said he wasn’t intimidated by the president’s involvement in the race.
“President Trump came here two weeks ago, and guess what? His candidate came in second place,” he said. “And I’m a firm believer that when we go head to head on April 7, you’re going to be talking to me again because I’m going to win it.”
The runoff is scheduled for April 7. The winner will serve out the remainder of Greene’s term, which means he will be right back up for election later this year, potentially facing many of the same opponents in the current race.
Both Fuller and Harris qualified last week to run in the regularly scheduled election, but they won’t be alone on the ballot later this year. Ten Republicans qualified for the May 19 primary, including former Trenton Republican state Sen. Colton Moore, who finished in third place Tuesday with about 12% of the vote. Harris is the only Democrat running in that election.
Greene, long among Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, announced her resignation late last year after publicly feuding with the president over issues including his handling of the files of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A Cook Political Report analysis found Georgia’s 14th District voted 19 points more in favor of Republicans than the nation as a whole, making it Georgia’s most Republican district.
A Harris flip would be a Herculean task, said Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie, but Democrats could benefit even if Harris isn’t headed to Washington.
“I think that Democrats are hankering for a fight,” she said. “And so even though I don’t think anybody really expects Harris to win this race, I think they want to demonstrate that they can organize well enough so that they can overperform and they could use that as a sign to talk about their enthusiasm.”
Gillespie said having Harris on the ticket could help U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is the only Democratic senator on the ballot this year who represents a state Trump won in 2024.
“It could also be a way for Jon Ossoff to think about how he can shore up his margins in the state,” she said. “He’s not expected to win the 14th Congressional District, but if he can lose it by a smaller margin than a Democrat typically loses the reddest district in the state, then that actually portends something favorable for him. So I think Democrats are going to use this as a sign of strength.”
The special election is being closely watched for any clues it may offer about the upcoming midterms, but the contest is also being held at a time when House Republicans are clinging to a narrow majority in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who is running for U.S. Senate this year, referenced the GOP’s tight margin in Congress when speaking to the crowd at Fuller’s election night watch party.
“By gosh, we need him in Washington, DC. We need him up there tomorrow. We’ll get him up there in April though,” Collins said. “We have got a tight majority, and we have got a lot of work to get done to make sure that we take our country back and we get this place back on track, and we continue an America First agenda for this country.”
