Four months after the longtime Georgia lawmaker David Scott died just a day after voting in the U.S. House, someone will finally fill his seat.
A special election runoff is being held in Georgia's 13th congressional district on Tuesday to determine who will represent a large section of metro Atlanta through the end of Scott's term. The election to fill Scott's seat for another term will be held during the midterm cycle in November, with two different candidates.
Two candidates qualified for a runoff following the first special election held on July 28. Across all parties, five people were vying for Scott's spot.
Where is GA 13th?
Georgia's 13th congressional district includes six counties on the east side of the Atlanta metro area.
Gwinnett, DeKalb, Clayton, Rockdale,
Henry and Newton Counties will be voting on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
There are just shy of 800,000 residents of the district, and they are predominantly Black or African American, according to the Congressional District Health Dashboard.
Who is running in the special election runoff?
There were five candidates in the special election in July: Democrat Everton Blair, Republican Caesar Gonzales, Democrat Carlos Moore, Republican Fayth Park and Democrat Marcye Scott.
Scott, who is David Scott's daughter, received the most votes with 46% support. Blair came in second with 37.45% of the vote. Since neither candidate reached a 50% majority to win the race, they both are now in the special election runoff.
The winner will complete the last few months of Scott's term, but will not be up for his seat in November to win a full term.
Blair did run in the Democratic primary for Scott's seat, for a term that would begin in January 2027, but he did not win.
Who is running for a full term?
Following the May 19 primaries, state representative Jasmine Clark (D) will face Jonathan Chavez (R) in November for a full term representing Georgia's 13th congressional district.
Clark won a solid 56% of the vote in the Democratic primary, beating Blair and others, and Chavez ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Chavez previously ran against Scott for his seat in the 2024 general election.
Clark did not run in the special election because doing so would require her to resign from the state house just as Republicans were previously considering a redistricting effort in Georgia. The state's conservatives ultimately decided not to move forward with the effort during a special session.
Irene Wright covers Georgia politics as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA TODAY’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Georgia voting for today? Race sends someone to Congress
