Democrat gets more votes than Trump-backed Republican in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old district

A Democrat led the first round of voting Tuesday in the special election to replace former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, sending the race in one of the country’s most conservative congressional districts to a runoff.

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Decision Desk HQ called the race at 8:03 p.m. Eastern.

Shawn Harris, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and northwest Georgia cattle farmer, finished as the top vote getter in a crowded field. Clayton Fuller, a district attorney backed by President Donald Trump, placed second.

With 82 percent of precincts reporting, Harris received 38 percent of the vote, and Fuller received 34.7 percent. Because no candidate surpassed 50 percent, the two will meet in a runoff on April 7.

The ballot featured a large, fragmented field of candidates, including several Republicans competing for the same conservative voters in the heavily GOP district. The election was held under Georgia’s all-party “jungle” special election format, in which candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot, and voters choose among the entire field. If no one wins a majority, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff.

That dynamic helped split the Republican vote and allowed Harris to emerge as the top individual vote getter even as Republicans collectively dominated the electorate.

Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene, the anti-LGBTQ+ Republican congresswoman, to resign in January

Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign from Congress in January

The contest is unfolding in Georgia’s 14th congressional district, a region that has become synonymous with Greene’s far-right politics and that has a steep Republican advantage. The seat opened after Greene, a conspiracy-embracing former MAGA acolyte known for frequent attacks on LGBTQ+ people, resigned effective January 5 following a public break with Trump.

Greene split with the president over his handling of files related to disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Greene accused Trump’s administration of failing to fully release records tied to Epstein’s associates, a dispute that fractured her once close alignment with the MAGA movement and helped trigger her resignation from Congress.

Harris challenged Greene in 2024 and lost decisively, 64.4 percent to 35.6 percent. The district has never sent a Democrat to Congress since it was created in 2013 and is considered one of the most Republican seats in the state.