In a surprise result, a Democrat received the most votes in a special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, following the conservative Georgia representative’s resignation from office earlier this year. With no candidate receiving a majority of votes, the top two choices will now face off in a runoff, with Democrats facing a challenging but surprisingly close opportunity to flip a heavily red district.

Shawn Harris finishes first, forcing a runoff in the Georgia House race

Democrat Shawn Harris shockingly received the most votes in Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. House seat representing Georgia’s 14th District. CNN reported that with 99% of the votes in, Harris led the race with over 43,000 votes, more than 37% of the total votes cast in the election, putting him nearly 3,000 votes ahead of the second-place finisher, Republican Clayton Fuller. Because neither man received a majority, Harris and Fuller will compete in a runoff election slated for April 7. The result was a shocking outcome for a district that President Donald Trump won by 37 points in the 2024 presidential election. Whoever wins April’s runoff will serve the remainder of Greene’s term, which ends in January 2027; the winner would also face an almost instant reelection campaign, with a primary race in May and the general election in November.

Trump supports the Republican candidate Fuller

Harris, an Army veteran who lost to Greene by almost 30 points in the 2024 election, acknowledged the challenge of winning the heavily conservative district and the “once-in-a-generation opportunity” that exists to do so now through the special election. Harris called the 14th District “ruby red,” declaring, “It won’t turn blue, but it’ll definitely turn pink.”

For Trump, the results are a mixed bag. The president’s February endorsement helped Fuller, a MAGA-friendly former prosecutor, finish higher than any other Republicans who participated in the primary. Still, it didn’t help Fuller gain more votes than Harris. To win the general election, Fuller would need to consolidate the Republican vote, which was split between a dozen GOP candidates in Tuesday’s primary. Trump spun the result as a victory and urged his followers to support Fuller in the runoff vote.

“We want to make the next vote ‘TOO BIG TO RIG,'” Trump said in a Truth Social post, alluding to long-debunked conspiracies about voter rigging in Georgia.

GOP House majority narrowed by Greene’s resignation after split with Trump

The unusual race in Georgia comes after a dramatic split between Trump and Greene, who was first elected in 2020 and served as one of the loudest MAGA voices in Congress. Since Trump’s return to the White House, Greene split with the president on several issues, including the release of the Epstein files, with Greene being one of a handful of Republicans to side with Democrats to force the vote to release the information. Facing backlash from MAGA supporters and personal attacks from Trump, Greene announced in November that she would resign from Congress. Her January departure narrowed Republicans’ already thin majority in the House and set up Tuesday’s special election for her district. A Democratic win, though still unlikely, could bolster the Party’s hopes of retaking the House in November by allowing Harris to run again as an incumbent. Flipping the Georgia seat would even leave the House open to an early Democratic takeover if a handful of Republicans left Congress early, as Greene has done.

The Democratic Party still has a long way to go to win Georgia’s 14th District, which remains heavily Republican. But the recent election results have given Democrats hope that a  “blue wave” of Democratic victories may continue around the country. Harris has a chance to continue this trend, as he’s in striking distance of flipping a very red area of Georgia.