Republican Clay Fuller wins Georgia US House runoff in MAGA stronghold

RINGGOLD, Georgia - Republican Clay Fuller, a former prosecutor endorsed by US President Donald Trump, on April 7 won a runoff election in Georgia to replace conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene in the US House of Representatives, according to media reports.

Mr Fuller, a former district attorney in north-west Georgia, defeated Mr Shawn Harris, a moderate Democrat who had been trying to win over disaffected Mr Trump voters, in the two-way race to represent the state’s most conservative district.

April 7’s runoff was triggered after no candidates secured an outright majority in a March 10 special election, held after Ms Greene resigned from Congress in January amid a public rupture with Mr Trump.

Mr Harris, however, mounted a spirited challenge in a district that is heavily Republican.

Two years ago, Ms Greene defeated him by a nearly 30-point margin.

With 86 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Harris had 42.5 per cent of the vote and was trailing Mr Fuller by about 15 points.

“Who would’ve ever thought that somebody who was endorsed by Donald Trump in a ruby-red district, that the race would be this close?” Mr Harris told supporters in a concession speech.

Noting that Republicans had to spend time and money on the race, Mr Harris added, “That tells you things are changing.”

Mr Fuller’s win gives House Speaker Mike Johnson a little more room to manoeuvre in pushing legislation through the chamber, as it currently is nearly evenly divided with 217 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and three vacancies.

Mr Josh McKoon, the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, also noted aggressive Democratic spending.

“All the kings horses and all the kings men could not turn northwest Georgia blue,” Mr McKoon told a crowd of more than 200 people who were celebrating Mr Fuller’s victory.

Mr Scott Johnson, 69, a retail banking consultant from Marietta, Georgia, said Mr Harris’ vote tally was higher than he would like, wishing this was a clear blowout win for Mr Fuller.

“But we got our man in,” he said. “A win is a win.”

A measure of Trump’s influence

The special election drew national attention as a measure of Mr Trump’s influence in a district that became synonymous with the MAGA movement through its association with Ms Greene, one of his most vocal defenders before their split.

Even with Mr Harris’ defeat, his performance will be scrutinised as an indicator of whether Democrats can continue to outperform in special elections, and whether high fuel prices and voter unease over the Iran war are shaping the electorate.

Professor Michael Bailey, a political science academic at Berry College, cited the district’s history of easy Republican victories, including Ms Greene’s 2024 win with 64.4 per cent of the vote to Mr Harris’ 35.6 per cent.

But Prof Bailey, whose college is in the district, said the margin of victory will be parsed for clues about party strength and Mr Trump’s standing with his MAGA base.

One key marker, he said, was whether Mr Harris could approach 45 per cent of the vote.

“If (Harris) gets to 45 per cent, that’s national news, in my opinion, because this is a heavily red district,” Prof Bailey told Reuters, saying such a result could prompt some Republican lawmakers to rethink their allegiance to Mr Trump.

“For Trump, above all, optics matter, and perception matters,” Prof Bailey said. “If he isn’t seen as having a magic touch, there’s enough diversity with the Republican Party that there’s going to be some people breaking away.”

Georgia’s 14th Congressional District is a mostly blue-collar corridor stretching north from Atlanta’s suburbs to the Tennessee border.

Harris sought disillusioned Republicans

Mr Harris, a cattle rancher and retired Army brigadier general, sought to appeal to disillusioned Republicans with a campaign focused on inflation and policies aimed at supporting small farmers and veterans.

He entered the race with a financial edge, raising about US$4.3 million (S$5.48 million) and reporting roughly US$290,000 cash on hand as of the Febr 18 campaign finance filing.

Mr Fuller, who was a White House fellow during Mr Trump’s first term and is a lieutenant-colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard, vowed to enact Mr Trump’s “America First” agenda.

On his campaign website, he describes himself as a “constitutional conservative” with a “tough-on-crime” record.

Mr Fuller raised about US$787,000 and had US$238,000 in the bank as of Feb 18.

Mr Fuller will serve through the end of 2026 but must quickly pivot to campaigning for a full two-year term beginning in January 2027, starting with a party primary in May.

The seat will be on the ballot in November’s general election, when all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be contested.

Democrats are seeking to regain control of the House, while facing steeper hurdles in the Senate. REUTERS