PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Voters across northwest Georgia, including Paulding County, will return to the polls April 7 after no candidate secured a majority in Tuesday’s special election to fill the vacant U.S. House seat in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller emerged as the top two vote-getters in the crowded field, setting up a runoff to determine who will complete the remainder of the term in Congress.
The special election, held March 10, drew a wide slate of candidates competing for the seat previously held by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Under Georgia election law, all candidates appeared on a single nonpartisan ballot, with the top two finishers advancing to a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
Early unofficial results showed Harris leading the field with roughly 37% of the vote, while Fuller followed with about 35%, forcing the runoff between the Democratic and Republican contenders.
A crowded race for an open seat
The contest attracted a large and diverse group of candidates, with more than a dozen Republicans and several Democrats vying for the seat in one of Georgia’s most reliably conservative congressional districts.
Georgia’s 14th District, which covers much of the state’s northwest corner and includes communities in Paulding County, typically favors Republicans by wide margins. Former President Donald Trump carried the district decisively in recent elections, underscoring the uphill challenge Democrats often face in the region.
The special election was called after Greene resigned from Congress in early January, creating a vacancy that Gov. Brian Kemp moved quickly to fill with a special election schedule. The winner of the runoff will serve the remainder of the current congressional term, which ends Jan. 3, 2027.
The candidates
Shawn Harris, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and cattle farmer, entered the race with name recognition after challenging Greene in 2024. Harris has campaigned on issues including rural infrastructure, veterans’ services and health care access, positioning himself as a moderate Democrat capable of appealing to independents and some conservative voters.
Clay Fuller, a district attorney who serves the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, advanced from a fractured Republican field. Fuller’s campaign gained momentum after receiving an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, a powerful signal in the heavily Republican district.
What comes next
With neither candidate surpassing the required majority threshold, the April 7 runoff will determine who represents Georgia’s 14th District in Washington for the remainder of the 119th Congress.
The race carries broader national implications. Control of the U.S. House remains closely divided, and although the district has historically favored Republicans, Democrats see the contest as an opportunity to test whether shifting political dynamics and a crowded GOP field could create an opening in northwest Georgia.
For voters in Paulding County and across the district, the runoff will be the decisive moment in choosing who fills the seat left vacant earlier this year — and who will represent the region’s interests in Congress through the end of the current term.
