Harris’s campaign is unfolding as Democrats test whether momentum from recent special elections can carry into a district long dominated by Republicans. With early voting starting Monday and a runoff scheduled for April 7, Harris is trying to win Georgia’s 14th District seat after Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned in January following a falling-out with President Donald Trump.
At a Saturday event in Rome, where hundreds gathered to hear Democratic presidential transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg stump for Harris, Kimberly Seals said the crowd reflected a bigger share of like-minded voters than she expected. Harris is running against Republican Clay Fuller, a district attorney, in a race that Republicans view as another opportunity to keep the seat in GOP hands.
Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said during his remarks that “there is no such thing as a permanently red district or state or town.” After speaking, he told reporters that “things really are shifting in this country,” tying the pitch to a broader Democratic push that has found some traction in recent special elections.
Harris’s pitch relies heavily on identity and background as he knocks on doors and talks with voters across conservative northwest Georgia. AP reported that sporting blue jeans and orange sneakers as he moved through south Rome, Harris chatted with voters who recognized him. One voter, Phoebe Johnson, said it was the third time she had seen Harris canvassing and described him as speaking “about the things that really matters,” including grocery prices and the cost of Trump’s tariffs.
As Harris frames it, he is known to residents as “Shawn” rather than by his former military title. He served in the military for 40 years, including time as an infantry commander in Afghanistan, before retiring as a brigadier general in the Army National Guard, AP said. He also lives on a cattle farm in Rockmart.
Harris told AP that he went “right back to work with my hands” to build the farm where he lives. He said Republican veterans who helped him put up fences on his property were among the early supporters who encouraged him to seek office before they knew he was a Democrat.
Other supporters described similar appeals to working-class life and local service. Odell Battle, 76, said Harris “stands for the kind of lifestyle that I like and enjoy,” adding after Harris gave him his cellphone number that the campaign is “not just to get into Washington and forget about us.” Floyd County Democratic Chair Vincent Mendes, a chiropractor, said some Republican patients are considering Harris’s candidacy and argued the district is “tired of being a talking point.”
Republicans acknowledge that Harris finished first on the March 10 ballot but argue that the circumstances of a special election should not be overinterpreted. AP reported that Buzz Brockway, a conservative commentator and former state representative, said, “It’s just too solid a red district,” while also suggesting it “might be closer than it should.” Jay Morgan, former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party, said the district could become even redder and described Fuller as “central casting.”
Morgan said Fuller’s profile as a law-enforcement candidate is a “huge boost for the party,” and said the party benefited from Fuller reaching the runoff over former state Sen. Colton Moore, whom Republicans have described as more controversial and whose style has been compared to Greene’s. Fuller campaign manager Dabriel Graham said, “The people of Northwest Georgia stand with President Trump and Clay Fuller.”
Looking beyond the district, Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey said she hopes excitement around the race can help candidates statewide in the November midterms. Bailey told AP that Shawn Harris is building momentum that will continue through November, boosting Democrats at every level of the ticket in North Georgia and beyond.