Clayton Fuller

The U.S. House of Representatives' newest member has hit the ground running in Washington.

Republican Clay Fuller won a special election runoff on April 10 to replace former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia's 14th congressional district and was sworn in just four days later.

In his first week, Fuller said he has joined the Second Amendment Caucus and the Congressional Sportmen's Caucus, and has become a co-sponsor on multiple bills, quickly becoming an active member of the House.

Fuller has large, and controversial, shoes to fill left behind by Greene, who had a messy and public falling out with President Donald Trump after she said he diverged from the "America First" message he campaigned on in 2024.

Fuller will also have to keep campaigning as he continues his political career. Because he won his seat through a special election, the position is still up for reelection in the midterms, and Fuller will be on the ballot during the May 19 Georgia primary as well as the general midterm in November.

Here's a look at his first week.

Video takes jab at state of Maryland

On Sunday afternoon, Fuller posted a video sharing a recent experience from Maryland.

"Just stayed at a hotel in Maryland for work. Turns out their AC units shut off while you sleep as part of some new work Green New Deal nonsense. It's a terrible policy that is making their state like Europe. Just one more example of why they've never won an SEC Championship," he wrote on X.

Fuller tells a story that the air conditioning in his hotel room went out during the night, and when he went down to the front desk to ask for assistance, the staff told him there was an "AOC Green New Deal" that would make the AC unit shut off in rooms where no one is moving. The staff offered a "VIP setting" to override the shutoff, Fuller said, which "offended" him since "it should already be in VIP mode, I'm from Georgia."

Fuller goes on to say Georgia was named after George Washington (the state was actually named for King George II) who "invented freedom," that the state is the "birthplace" of Braves player Ronald Acuña Jr. (he was born in Venezuela), and the birthplace of University of Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton (this is true).

"So I just want to say to the state of Maryland, I know that y'all are newer to the union and that you don't have a football team and if Gunner Stockton was born here he'd probably play some fake sport like lacrosse, but AC has quite literally saved billions of lives. Socialism has killed billions of lives," Fuller said.

The tone of the video, along with Fuller's monotone delivery seen in many of his videos, matches Fuller's extensive social media presence, causing many people in the comments to defend Maryland and lacrosse, and call out the false statements shared by Fuller.

A spokesperson for Fuller, however, told USA TODAY the video was "obviously satirical" and that "no reasonable person would think he was serious."

Fuller calls 'anchor babies' a 'deliberate invasion'

In an April 18 post on X, Fuller said that "nearly 10% of U.S. births are anchor babies," referring to children born in the U.S. to non-citizen mothers who would gain citizenship under the U.S. Constitution.

"This isn't the immigration our Founders intended. It's a deliberate invasion, handing out citizenship and welfare to those abusing our laws while we lose our country from within," he wrote. "It must end."

The Pew Research Center found that about 9% of U.S. births in 2023 were to "unauthorized or temporary legal immigrant mothers."

This is about 320,000 children out of the 3.6 million that were born in the U.S. in 2023. The majority of these births, 260,000, would no longer have qualified for birthright citizenship under a proposed change by President Trump through an executive order, according to the research. The legality of the order is being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fuller said he would be a "MAGA warrior" on the campaign trail, including being tough on immigration. In an April 16 post on X, Fuller said he's "not in DC to fight for foreigners" but "here to fight for northwest Georgia."

This includes his opposition to temporary protected status, or TPS, which is given to foreign nationals who come to the U.S. to escape extreme conditions like war or natural disasters, and his opposition to H.R. 4393, or the "DIGNADAD" Act, which provides a pathway to citizenship.

"Somalians were first granted TPS in 1991. Haitians received it in 2010. Don't fall for the scam," Fuller said in an April 17 post on X. "There is nothing temporary about TPS, it's just another word for amnesty. I'll vote not to extend it every time."

Fuller continues to support war in Iran

Greene has been a vocal opponent of military operations in Iran, but her replacement has been supportive of the president both before he was elected to Congress and after.

Quickly following the news of strikes in February, Fuller publicly supported the strikes, calling the late Ayatollah a "monster."

"The bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khamenei, architect of countless deaths among Americans and our allies worldwide, is finally dead. Rot in hell, you monster," Fuller wrote in a post on X. "Huge thanks to President Trump for this win. Prayers for our troops and for Iranians to rise up and claim their freedom."

When troops were reported dead the next weekend, Fuller said the "mission is not in vain" and that they were helping to stop "the evil of Iran's regime." He also likened the Obama administration's policies in the Middle East to "appeasement with pallets of cash to Islamic death cults only emboldened with evil."

Now in Congress, Fuller called the negotiations between the Trump Administration and Iranian officials "what strong leadership accomplishes" as Trump announced the opening of the Straight of Hormuz.

Fuller also shared an uncredited chart displaying the price of crude oil declining over the weekend.

"The Strait of Hormuz is open and crude oil prices are dropping," Fuller wrote in an April 17 post on X. "The signals are clear, President Trump's economy is strong."

Irene Wright covers politics in Georgia as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at [email protected].