Georgia’s 14th District race heads to April runoff after crowded special election

As predicted, the election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District is heading to a runoff.

Democrat Shawn Harris will face off against Republican Clay Fuller, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, in a runoff scheduled for April 7.

With 17 candidates on the ballot, Harris received 37% of the vote while Fuller came in second with nearly 35% of the vote. 

“This is about all of the people here in Northwest Georgia. This is a win for them,” Harris said in an interview posted to his campaign Facebook page. “We knew going into this race we had something special. That special is Democrats, Independents, and, yes, Republicans are voting for me, and that clearly played out tonight.”

Fuller gave a victory speech in downtown Rome with the results displayed on a TV monitor, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“You look at that screen behind me, and you see what this man means to the people here in this community, what he means to the people in this country and what he means to the MAGA movement,” Fuller said. “He’s entrusted our campaign to carry it forward.”

There were 12 Republican candidates on the ballot, three Democrats, a Liberitarian and an Independent. The special election was called after former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned after a public dispute with Trump.

“Donald Trump does not control Northwest Georgia anymore. It’s over, and now a new era is coming in,” Harris said.

Around the state

All of the other special elections that took place on Tuesday look to be heading to runoffs as well.

Republican Lanny Thomas received the most votes for state Senate District 53 with nearly 39% of the vote. Democrat John Bentley “Jack” Zibluk finished second with nearly 27% of the vote.

With no Republican contenders, Venola Mason came out on top with 44% of the vote for state House District 94, and Kelly Kautz received 23% of the vote.

For state House District 130, Democrat Sheila Clark Nelson received 33% of the vote while Republican Thomas D. McAdams barely scraped by for second place with 20% of the vote. He narrowly defeated Democrat Karen Gordon for the second spot by just 7 votes.