All eyes on Georgia as Trump-backed candidate battles in high-stakes congressional showdown

It’s Primary Day in Republican-dominated Mississippi, where House and Senate nomination contests are being held in the Deep South state.

But a special congressional election 200 miles to the east in battleground Georgia to fill a vacant GOP-held congressional seat will likely grab much more national attention Tuesday.

The race is to fill the seat in Georgia’s solidly red 14th Congressional District — in the northwest part of the state — left vacant when MAGA firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with President Donald Trump.

And the special election is being held as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House. The GOP cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in the special election, in a district Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory.

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Twenty-two candidates initially filed to run for the vacant seat, but that number is down to a still crowded field of 17 contenders, after a handful bowed out of the contest.

All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, are on the same ballot. And If no candidate tops 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two contenders will advance to a runoff April 7.

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Trump is backing Clay Fuller, one of the 12 Republican candidates in the race. 

Trump teamed up with Fuller, the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, during a stop in the district last month. Speaking ahead of the president at an event in Rome, Georgia, Fuller described himself as a “MAGA warrior.

Also running is former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump supporter who enjoys plenty of support from the far right.

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Among the three Democrats running for the seat is retired Army Brigadier Gen. Shaw Harris, the Democratic nominee who lost to Greene in 2024. With $4.3 million raised, Harris is the fundraising champion among all 17 candidates.

While Fuller is considered the favorite thanks to Trump’s endorsement, with just three Democrats in the race, Harris has a shot of securing one of the two runoff spots no candidate tops the 50% threshold in the primary.

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In Mississippi, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a GOP primary challenge — as she seeks a second full six-year term — from physician and novelist Sarah Adlakha.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s longest-serving current member of Congress and the only Democrat in the delegation, faces two primary challengers as he seeks an 18th two-year term in the House.