The Republican candidate backed by President Donald Trump will advance to a runoff against a Democrat in the Georgia race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in the U.S. House of Representatives, after a special election on Tuesday seen as a test of Trump’s sway over his party.
Trump’s preferred candidate, former district attorney for four northwest Georgia counties Clay Fuller, will face Shawn Harris, a moderate Democrat who has sought to court disillusioned Trump voters, in the April 7 runoff.
Harris won 37.3% of the vote while Fuller topped a crowded Republican field of a dozen candidates with 34.9%, according to Georgia’s Secretary of State. With no candidate securing a majority, the top two will face off next month, with Fuller favored in the staunchly conservative district.
The race has drawn outsized national attention because it offers an early measure of Trump’s grip on his base in a district that has been a stronghold of his Make America Great Again movement and was thrust back into the spotlight by last year’s public split between Trump and Greene.
Fuller easily outpaced other Republicans, signaling Trump’s enduring sway over his MAGA base. He beat the next closest one, conservative former state senator Colton Moore, who describes himself as Trump’s top defender, by more than 20 percentage points.
“Trump’s endorsement did the job,” said Jeffrey Lazarus, a political science professor at Georgia State University, predicting that Fuller would consolidate the Republican vote and defeat Harris in the runoff. “The smart money is on Fuller.”
Fuller, who was a White House fellow during Trump’s first term and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard, told Reuters that he viewed Tuesday’s result as an “absolute win” even if he didn’t avoid the runoff.
Fuller supporter Brian Crisp agreed.
“With so many Republicans in the race, we were thinking he might get 25% or 27%,” Crisp said at Fuller’s watch party in Rome, a city in the heart of the district. “So he’s gotten way above that. And it’s looking really good for the next election.”
“Trump’s endorsement did the job,” said Jeffrey Lazarus, a political science professor at Georgia State University, predicting that Fuller would consolidate the Republican vote and defeat Harris in the runoff. “The smart money is on Fuller.”
Fuller, who was a White House fellow during Trump’s first term and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard, told Reuters that he viewed Tuesday’s result as an “absolute win” even if he didn’t avoid the runoff.
Fuller supporter Brian Crisp agreed.
“With so many Republicans in the race, we were thinking he might get 25% or 27%,” Crisp said at Fuller’s watch party in Rome, a city in the heart of the district. “So he’s gotten way above that. And it’s looking really good for the next election.”
