ACWORTH, Ga. (AP) — Unease from the war with Iran loomed over Georgia's special election as voters decided whether Republican Clay Fuller will succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress or if Democrat Shawn Harris will clinch an upset victory.
Even in this deep red district, President Donald Trump's escalating rhetoric had some Republicans worried.
Acworth resident Jason McGinty pointed to Trump’s threats to bomb electrical plants and other infrastructure
in Iran.
“I’m concerned he’s about to go too far with it, that Trump may be committing a war crime,” said McGinty, who voted for Fuller and wants to “make sure the America First party is still in place.”
Trump set a deadline for Tuesday at 8 p.m. — one hour after polls close in Georgia — for Iran to reach a deal with the United States before he unleashes an even more aggressive attack.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," he wrote on social media.
Retiree Judy McDonald agreed with the president's decision to go to war but was “very anxiety-ridden” over the conflict.
“Eventually we will have peace and the Iranians will kind of come to a conclusion that they won’t have a country if they don’t stop the terrorism,” she said.
Melinda Dorl, another retiree, said she supported Harris "so it sends a message to Trump and his cronies that people aren’t happy.”
“This war was totally uncalled for. Trump is a liar. Everything he says is a lie,” Dorl said, adding that Trump was wrecking relationships with countries that have traditionally been American allies.
Harris led a first round of voting on March 10 with 37% in the district that stretches across 10 counties from suburban Atlanta to Tennessee. While Fuller came in second in the 17-candidate all-party special election with 35%, the Republican candidates combined won nearly 60% of the vote. The 14th District is rated as the most Republican-leaning district in Georgia by the Cook Political Report.
Trump in February endorsed Fuller, a district attorney who prosecuted crimes in four counties, to succeed Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. Greene, once among Trump’s most ardent supporters, resigned in January after falling out with the president.
Greene has continued to criticize Trump.
“Trump was elected to go to war against America’s deep state and to end America’s involvement in foreign wars,” she wrote on social media on Tuesday. “Not to kill an entire civilization while waging a foreign war on behalf of Israel, another foreign country.”
Fuller has backed Trump to the hilt — including the war — and found no issue on which he disagreed with the president when asked in a March 23 debate.
“We need an America First fighter to stand strong for northwest Georgia," Fuller said March 23. He was a White House fellow in the first Trump administration and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard.
Trump reiterated his support for Fuller on Monday night and then again on Tuesday.
“To the Great Patriots in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District: GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY for a fantastic Candidate, Clay Fuller, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” the president wrote on social media.
Harris, a cattle farmer and retired general who lost to Greene in 2024, has contrasted himself with Greene’s bomb-throwing style. He said he's a “dirt-road Democrat" with common sense, and practical-minded Republicans should vote for him because he will focus on the district's interest.
“He has sold his soul to Donald Trump," Harris said of Fuller on March 23. "The reality of it is he cannot fight for you because he cannot go against the president.”
Enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate has been high, although even some Harris supporters expected him to lose.
“I voted for the Democrat even though this is a very red district and the Democrat has almost no chance of winning," said Michael Robards, a software engineer from Kennesaw who calls himself a center-right independent. He said he wants to see Trump's policies rolled back and the president again impeached.
The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term. A Republican win would bolster the party’s slim majority in the House, where Republicans control 217 seats to Democrats’ 214, with one independent.
But if the winner wants to remain in Congress beyond January, he will have to run again. Republicans seeking a full two-year term are set for a May 19 party primary, and possibly a June 16 party runoff, before advancing to the general election in November. Harris is the only Democrat running, meaning he faces no primary election.
Greene was one of the most well-known members of Congress until she left in January.
After clashing with Trump, she criticized Trump’s foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president eventually had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she would resign.
