A Republican victory in the heavily conservative northwest Georgia district would bolster the party’s slim House majority, currently 218 seats to Democrats’ 214, while a Harris win would mark a rare Democratic gain in one of the state’s most Republican-leaning districts.

ROME, Ga. — Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller advanced Tuesday to an April 7 runoff in the race to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, after no candidate secured a majority in a 14-person special election field that included nine Republicans, three Democrats, a Libertarian, and an independent.

The result leaves Harris, a cattle farmer and retired brigadier general, as the lone Democrat in the runoff against Fuller, a district attorney endorsed by President Donald Trump in February. Trump’s backing lifted Fuller to the top of the crowded Republican field but fell short of an outright majority.

“I think the Republican Party is going to unite around us because they know that the Democrat is too dangerous,” Fuller said Tuesday night. “We can’t have a Democrat representing Georgia 14. That would be a tragedy for our community, a tragedy for Georgia 14 and a tragedy for the MAGA movement.”

Harris faces a steep climb in the heavily Republican northwest Georgia district. He has drawn a contrast with Greene’s confrontational approach, arguing that practical-minded Republicans should support him because he will work for constituents “not for somebody else who’s already in D.C.”

“The way I’m going to go to Congress is that it’s going to be a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans,” Harris said Tuesday night.

Trump, congratulating Fuller on social media, cited the crowded Republican field as context for the result. “Clay will be a GREAT Congressman — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” the president wrote.

Stakes for the House majority

The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term. A Republican victory would reinforce the party’s slim majority in the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold 218 seats to Democrats’ 214. Democrats have pointed to competitive performances in recent special elections as evidence of discontent with Trump’s agenda.

Matthew Wisniewski, a Dallas, Georgia resident who voted for Harris, said oversight concerns drove his choice.

“There just needs to be checks and balances and I don’t think we have many of those right now,” he said.

Fuller’s candidacy

Fuller’s path to the runoff drew on ties to Trump and a military background. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard and served as a White House fellow in the first Trump administration. Fuller finished fourth in the 2020 Republican primary that Greene won. He credited Trump’s endorsement as decisive.

“They want to know who President Trump was endorsing in this race,” Fuller said. “And that’s why they came out in droves to support him, because they want an America First fighter on Capitol Hill fighting for his policies that are going to make a difference for our community.”

Harris said he was unconcerned about further intervention from the president.

“If Donald Trump wants to come and do what he wants to do, that’s his business,” he said.

A longer election calendar ahead

Tuesday’s vote is the first in a series of contests for the district. Republicans and Democrats seeking a full two-year term face a May 19 party primary, a possible June 16 party runoff, and a November general election. Fuller, along with other candidates including former state Sen. Colton Moore, has qualified for the November race regardless of the April 7 runoff outcome.

Greene held the seat for years and was among Congress’s most prominent members until her resignation in January. She had been a consistent Trump supporter, campaigning alongside him through the 2024 election. The relationship deteriorated after Trump and other Republicans discouraged her from pursuing a Senate or gubernatorial bid. Greene then criticized Trump’s foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein; Trump said he would back a primary challenge against her, and Greene announced her resignation the following week.