Georgia voters choose a successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene

ATLANTA (AP) — Months after Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from Congress after a falling out with President Donald Trump, voters in her Georgia district will vote for her successor in a special election on Tuesday.

With top candidates including Republicans Clay Fuller and Colton Moore and Democrat Sean Harris, this round of voting could be just the first step in an election marathon in northwest Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.

Read more: What to expect in the Georgia special election to fill Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former seat

Fuller, a Trump-backed attorney general, is hoping to avoid an April 7 runoff, which would be necessary if no candidate wins a majority of votes in the district that stretches across 10 counties from the Atlanta suburbs to the Tennessee state line.

“We need to win this thing on March 10 and send the America First warrior out to fight for President Trump,” Fuller told a crowd in Rome, Georgia, on February 19 before Trump’s speech.

But with 12 Republicans, three Democrats, a liberal candidate and an independent running in the all-party special election, that could be difficult, even after five Republicans dropped out.

He watches: Trump promotes economic agenda at a rally in Georgia ahead of the March special election

The winner will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term. But if they want to remain in Congress after next January, they will have to run again. Republicans and Democrats seeking full two-year terms are scheduled to run in party primaries on May 19, and possibly a runoff on June 16, before advancing to the general election in November.

Last week, 10 Republicans and Harris qualified to run in the November elections for a full two-year term. That includes Fuller, as well as Moore, a former state senator and favorite of far-right activists who has drawn attention with a vocal attack on Trump’s impeachment trial in Georgia for alleged election interference.

Harris, a rancher and retired general, promises moderation and focus on the region’s problems. However, a Democrat is unlikely to win in the 14th District, which is ranked as the most Republican-leaning district in Georgia by the Cook Political Report.

He watches: Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about President Trump as she prepares to leave Congress

Voters there embraced Greene’s hard-right campaign in 2020, when she parachuted into the district after aborting a campaign in a closely contested district closer to Atlanta.

Greene was one of the most popular members of Congress until she left in January. She remained loyal to Trump after his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, and promoted Trump’s lies about the stolen election. When Trump ran again in 2024, she toured the country with him and spoke at his rallies wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.

But Greene began clashing with Trump last year after he and other Republicans objected to her running for Senate or governor. Greene criticized Trump’s foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Eventually, the president had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she was resigning.

The return of another Republican to Congress would strengthen the party’s narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans currently control 218 seats in the House of Representatives, compared to 214 for Democrats.