The Race to Replace MTG: Democrat vs. Trump's Pick in Georgia's Reddest District
On April 7, Democrat Shawn Harris — a retired brigadier general and cattle farmer — faces Trump-endorsed Republican Clay Fuller in a runoff that could be an early bellwether for the November midterms. Early voting opened Monday in a district that hasn't elected a Democrat in over a decade.
How We Got Here
Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from Congress on January 5, 2026, citing disagreements with President Trump over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to the BBC and AP. She had pushed for legislation demanding the release of government documents related to Epstein — over Trump's objections. Congress ultimately passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act and Trump signed it, but Greene and Trump's relationship never recovered. Greene had represented Georgia's 14th Congressional District — a sprawling, heavily Republican swath of northwest Georgia — since 2021.
Governor Brian Kemp scheduled a special election for March 10, 2026, with an April 7 runoff if no candidate cleared 50%, according to Wikipedia's summary of the Georgia Secretary of State's schedule. Twenty candidates appeared on the March 10 ballot under Georgia's nonpartisan primary format.
The March 10 Results
No candidate won an outright majority on March 10. Democrat Shawn Harris led the field with 43,273 votes (37.34%), followed by Republican Clayton Fuller with 40,409 votes (34.87%), and Republican state Senator Colton Moore with 13,475 votes (11.63%), according to official results tabulated on Wikipedia citing Georgia Secretary of State data.
Harris's first-place finish largely reflected the Republican vote splitting across more than a dozen GOP candidates, according to AP and BBC analysis. In the two-candidate April 7 runoff, Fuller may benefit from consolidation of Republican support — though not all of those eliminated candidates have publicly endorsed him.
The Candidates
Shawn Harris (Democrat) is a retired Army brigadier general who served for 40 years, including time as an infantry commander in Afghanistan, according to AP. He lives on a cattle farm in Rockmart, Georgia, and ran against Greene in 2024, losing that race. He raised $4,297,587.91 through February 18, 2026, and spent $4,007,837.28 of it — the most of any candidate in the race — leaving $289,750.63 cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings cited by Wikipedia.
Clay Fuller (Republican) is the current district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, a position he has held since 2020, according to Wikipedia and BBC reporting. He received Trump's "complete and total endorsement" both in a Truth Social post and at a campaign rally Trump held in Rome, Georgia, according to BBC. He raised $786,797.09 through February 18, 2026, and had spent $548,515.74, with $238,281.35 cash on hand, per FEC filings cited by Wikipedia.
What Trump and Buttigieg Are Doing
Trump rallied for Fuller in Rome, Georgia, and posted on Truth Social the morning after the March 10 primary: "Clay Fuller is going to be a fantastic Congressman in representing the Great State of Georgia. Now we have to be careful and finish it off. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!" according to the BBC's reporting from Rome.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has campaigned with Harris in person, drawing a crowd of hundreds to a Rome rally, according to AP. Buttigieg told reporters: "I believe that there is no such thing as a permanently red district or state or town," and said "things really are shifting in this country," according to AP.
Harris told the BBC after the March 10 results: "Everybody who voted for any other candidate [...] I want to talk to every last one of them, and say: 'Give me a chance.'"
The District's Political Terrain
Georgia's 14th District covers the northwest corner of the state — counties including Floyd (Rome), Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield. The district has not sent a Democrat to Congress in over a decade and voted heavily for Trump in 2024.
Fuller's campaign has run on a platform echoing Trump's priorities — mass deportation, increased domestic manufacturing, and a tough-on-crime stance, according to BBC. Republican strategist Jay Morgan, former executive director of the Georgia Republican Party, told AP the district "could become even redder" and described Fuller as "central casting" for the seat. Conservative commentator Buzz Brockway told AP: "It's just too solid a red district. But it might be closer than it should."
Harris has focused his campaign on rising grocery prices, the economic impact of Trump's tariffs, and his own biography as a military veteran and working farmer. His fundraising advantage — roughly $3.5 million more raised than Fuller — reflects significant outside Democratic investment, though Harris entered the runoff with relatively limited cash on hand after heavy spending in the primary phase, per FEC data.
Why the Midterms Loom Over Everything
The winner of the April 7 runoff will serve only through January 3, 2027 — the end of the 119th Congress — because the seat covers only the remainder of Greene's term, according to Wikipedia. That means whoever wins must immediately begin campaigning again for the November 2026 midterms to keep the seat.
Democrats have performed better than expected in several recent special elections heading into the midterms, according to AP, which also noted that November's midterms will determine control of Congress. Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey told AP: "This race is critical for Georgia's 14th District, but it's even bigger than that." Republicans, meanwhile, point to the district's structural advantage as a reliable test of Trump's coattails heading into November.
Early voting in the runoff opened Monday, March 30, with Election Day set for Tuesday, April 7.