ROME, Ga. — Republican Clay Fuller defeated Democrat Shawn Harris in Tuesday’s runoff election, but he has to keep campaigning if he wants to keep the seat.
The special election was to fill the remainder of former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which will run out at the end of the year.
Harris is the Democratic candidate in November’s general election, but Fuller faces a crowd of Republicans in a May primary.
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Fuller won the election by 11 points, which is much closer than Greene’s 20 point win over Harris in the last election.
Harris took some comfort in the margin being closer than before.
“The reality of it is, who would have ever thought with somebody being endorsed by Donald Trump in ruby red district, that the race would be this close,” he said.
But Congressman-elect Fuller says this is just the beginning of his fight.
“You better believe I’m going to go to Capitol Hill and be a warrior for each and every person in this room and I’m never going to stop fighting for y’all,” he said on election night.
To keep the seat, Fuller will have to beat GOP opponents, like former State Senator Colton Moore, in the May 19 primary, and Harris in November.
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But Republican consultant Brian Robinson says the president’s endorsement of Fuller will carry a lot of weight.
“That Trump endorsement certainly gives you that stamp of approval, and so it’s going to be hard to attack him and make him look like he’s not a good choice of MAGA voters,” Robinson said.
University of Georgia Political Science Professor Dr. Charles Bullock says Fuller will be tough to beat by anyone in either part, but that the race will be grueling.
“He’s going to have to go through a Republican primary, maybe another primary and then a general election, so he might have to compete in what would be conceivably five elections this year,” Bullock said. “[I] hope that the job is worth it.”
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