President Donald Trump endorsed a candidate for the vacant congressional seat in northwest Georgia’s 14th District on February 4, describing former district attorney Clay Fuller as a torchbearer of the Make America Great Again movement. More than a dozen other Republicans are still running anyway.
The March 10 special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene—who resigned in January after a bitter split with Trump—has become an unexpected test of the president’s grip on his own base. Early voting begins Monday, and interviews with more than two dozen voters suggest the race is wide open, with many saying Trump’s endorsement alone won’t decide their vote.
“I’m a Trump supporter, and I respect his opinion, but he doesn’t live in this district,” said John Burdette, who attended a candidate forum this week in Kennesaw. “I think we have a better perspective on who is best to represent us.”
The Vacuum
Greene swept to victory in 2020 and quickly became one of the most outspoken national figures in the MAGA movement. Her district, a mostly blue-collar corridor stretching from Atlanta’s exurbs to the Tennessee border, established itself as a conservative stronghold, giving Trump 68% of the vote in 2024.
But after Greene’s departure, the question of who should fill her seat—and what “MAGA” even means now—has exposed growing divisions within a movement that has long defined itself through loyalty to one man.
Fourteen Republicans are competing alongside three Democrats and one independent. Several are casting themselves as the true heirs to Trump’s right-wing populism, vying to claim the mantle in a district where that label still carries weight.
“I think you’re starting to see perhaps the party looking beyond him a little bit as he gets into the sixth year and maybe starting to think about the future of the party,” said Nathan Price, a political science professor at the University of North Georgia.
The Endorsed Candidate
Fuller, the former district attorney for four counties, became the presumptive frontrunner after Trump’s endorsement. He says he aims to focus on economic development for the district’s poorer rural communities stretching across the foothills of Appalachia. He has also vowed to move past Greene’s combative style—marked by conspiracy-mongering and online attacks—that drew national scrutiny to the district.
“I’ve got the gear for fire and brimstone when the situation calls for it,” he told Reuters after a campaign event. “But I’m my own man. I don’t think the voters want that style again.”
Still, Fuller sometimes deploys inflammatory rhetoric in support of Trump’s agenda. On January 24—the same day federal immigration officers shot and killed nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis—he posted on X that, if elected, he would nominate all ICE agents for the Presidential Medal of Freedom and push to triple the agency’s budget.
The Firebrand
No candidate in the race has been as consistently fiery or aggressive in backing Trump over the years as Colton Moore, a hard-right former state senator who calls himself “Trump’s #1 Defender” and runs under the slogan “GOD. GUNS. TRUMP.”
A longtime champion of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Moore has repeatedly clashed with Georgia’s Republican leadership. That confrontational approach resonates with grassroots conservatives eager to challenge the establishment, said Charles Stoker, an 81-year-old Republican voter.
“President Trump has been getting bad advice,” Stoker said, expressing disappointment with the Fuller endorsement. “Directions need to come from the people upward.”
Though he missed out on Trump’s backing, Moore has secured endorsements from former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, and the Georgia Republican Assembly, a group representing the party’s far-right wing.
“President Trump’s going to be gone in a few years,” GRA President Nathaniel Darnell told Reuters, arguing that Moore, not Fuller, could be trusted to work in the district’s best interests.
The Moderate Gamble
Meg Strickland, a travel consultant and mother of three who voted for Trump, is one of the few self-described moderates in the race. She says the party should chart a new course, returning to its small-government roots and moving away from caustic, personality-driven politics.
“I don’t think that Trump is a true conservative, and I hope that we can get back there,” said the 39-year-old.
Strickland acknowledges the steep odds she faces in a district Trump carried with 68% of the vote. But she believes Republicans are misreading the moment, pointing to voter backlash over aggressive tactics by federal immigration agents and the cost-of-living squeeze that dominates her campaign stops.
The Democrat Waiting
Shawn Harris, a 59-year-old cattle farmer and retired brigadier general, is the leading Democratic candidate. He has made courting disaffected Republican voters a central focus, aiming to win them over with a message centered on lowering costs for everyday workers and expanding access to affordable healthcare.
Harris, who has $1.2 million on hand, sees overlap between his positions and Greene’s since her break with Trump, noting her shift in focus to helping working Americans, curbing toxic politics, and tackling the national debt.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene is a Republican that has moved back into what the old Republicans were,” Harris said. “Her talking points are the same talking points that I had when I ran against her the last time.”
Political observers say Harris could gain enough support to make an April 7 runoff if no candidate secures a majority on March 10. While outright victory is seen as highly unlikely, his performance will be watched to see if Democrats can sustain their recent streak of outperforming in special elections.
What the Polls Show
A Quantus Insights poll of 729 registered Republicans conducted in late January—before Trump’s endorsement—pointed to a wide-open race. Moore and Fuller led with 13.4% and 12.6% support, respectively. More than a third of respondents were undecided.
The main differences between Republican candidates appear to be style rather than substance. Some embrace the combative approach that defines Trumpism. Others call for more civility and consensus-building.
But the fundamental question—who speaks for MAGA now?—remains unanswered. And with Republicans splitting votes, the emerging divisions pose a risk for the party’s control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, creating potential openings for Democrats to exploit infighting in competitive districts.
For voters in Georgia’s 14th, the race is about more than who fills a seat. It’s about what comes next for a movement built around one man, in a district that embraced him completely—and now must decide whether to keep following his lead, or chart its own course.
“Trump’s going to be gone in a few years,” Darnell said.
The question hanging over this election is whether MAGA goes with him.
