Clayton Fuller

Shawn Harris, a Democrat and retired U.S. Army officer, and Clayton Fuller, a Republican endorsed by President Trump, were the lead vote-getters in a special election in Georgia on Tuesday to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican firebrand who left Congress in January, according to The Associated Press.

Because they both remained shy of a majority of the votes cast, Mr. Harris and Mr. Fuller will advance to an April 7 runoff. Mr. Fuller’s performance ahead of a more MAGA-adjacent rival, Colton Moore, boosted Mr. Trump’s endorsement record this midterm cycle.

The first-round win may deliver a jolt of confidence for Mr. Harris and his fellow Democrats in Ms. Greene’s former district, which covers a chunk of northwest Georgia and is among the most conservative districts in the state.

Winning the runoff will be considerably more difficult. The ballot on Tuesday allowed voters to choose among 17 candidates: 12 Republicans, three Democrats, an independent and a libertarian. Mr. Harris was by far the best known Democrat, having competed against Ms. Greene in the 2024 general election.

Now Mr. Harris will face off against Mr. Fuller, a former state prosecutor. In the runoff, Mr. Fuller will have to consolidate conservatives, whose votes were cast across the range of first-round Republican candidates, among them Mr. Moore, an auctioneer, a dump truck driver and a former state senator whose penchant for political spectacle made him the closest stylistic fit to Ms. Greene.

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