The special election for former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) seat is all but guaranteed to head to a runoff election, with nearly 20 candidates vying to win the race.
Seventeen active competitors will fight for the chance to represent Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, which is expected to remain in Republican hands, being a safe red seat. The winner will finish out Greene’s term until the November midterm elections.
Greene resigned from her seat after a major public fallout with President Donald Trump over rising healthcare costs and her support for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Georgia special elections do not hold primaries, meaning that every candidate will be on the ballot on Tuesday. The race will head into a runoff if none of the 17 candidates receive 50% of the votes.
Trump endorsed Clay Fuller, a former district attorney, to replace Greene after making an unsuccessful primary bid in 2020 against the former congresswoman. The president suggested he would support a Georgia primary against Greene before she resigned.
“Clay knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Defend our Country, Support our Brave Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Mr. Trump wrote, saying the former White House Fellow had his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
But not all believe this endorsement will get Fuller across the finish line.
“I firmly believe that tomorrow the Democratic candidate Shawn Harris will finish first and Colton Moore will finish second,” Georgia-based political expert David McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “Meaning that the Trump-endorsed Clay Harris will not make the runoff.”
Colton Moore, a Georgia state senator, is also considered a very formidable candidate, despite not garnering the president’s support, bringing in over $300,000.
Although the seat is labeled “Solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report, Shawn Harris is leading the Democrats and has also challenged Greene before. Harris, a retired Army brigadier general, has a massive war chest compared to the other candidates in the race, bringing in over $4 million, according to the FEC.
Brian Stover, the second-highest fundraiser, with over $900,000 raised, is a “conservative businessman” who has touted his support for the president.
Fuller’s endorsement came after the president had withdrawn his support for Greene following many splits from her party, including backing healthcare subsidies and pointing the finger at Republicans for a lack of healthcare alternatives to the Affordable Care Act during the recent government shutdown. Democrats had largely suggested the subsidies were the reason for the shutdown, which ended earlier this week.
Greene was also one of four Republicans to sign on to a discharge petition regarding the release of the Epstein files, which reached the necessary 218 signatures in the House this week.
“I am withdrawing my support and Endorsement of ‘Congresswoman’ Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the Great State of Georgia,” he wrote late last year in a Truth Social post, marking the beginning of the saga that led to her resignation.
Greene resigned on Jan. 5 and has continued her criticism against Trump since leaving office.
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“For someone who quit politics, Majorie Greene has more thoughts and opinions than most of the folks still serving in Congress,” McLaughlin continued. “It makes you wonder why she ever quit?”
The result of this primary election will add some cushion to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) historically slim margin, pushing his one-seat margin up to a two-seat margin.
Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this article.
