(The Center Square) – The two men vying to replace Rome Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress are making last-minute pitches to voters.
Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris led 17 candidates in the March 10 election to advance to Tuesday’s runoff.
Fuller is the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. He encouraged his followers to join him in Rome on Monday night for phone banking. Fuller is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
“Let’s send a fighter for our faith, duty, and America first values to D.C. tomorrow,” Fuller said on social media.
Harris received some big-name support of his own on Monday from actor Samuel L. Jackson in a video posted on social media. The actor encouraged people to get out and vote.
“Samuel L. Jackson said it plain: show up and vote,” Harris said. “This runoff is happening because too many voices stayed home last time. Let’s fix that.”
Early voting totals from the secretary of state’s office indicate 45,932 voters went to the polls in person. Election officials received 1,757 absentee ballots, and 1,751 of them were counted. The total turnout was 47,683 ballots, which represents 6.6% of the district’s 723,433 registered voters.
The 14th Congressional District includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker and Whitfield counties, and portions of Cobb County.
The winner of Tuesday’s election will serve out the remainder of Greene’s two-year term, which ends Jan. 3.
Greene stepped down after a public feud with Trump. She continued to criticize him Sunday after Trump made a social media post with expletives threatening more action against Iran, saying the president is not a Christian and should not be supported by Christians.
She wrote the American people were not promised what is happening today, said it was not “making America great again,” and called it “evil.”
Greene did not endorse a candidate in the race to succeed her.
Fuller and Harris are in the May 19 primary for their respective party, seeking a two-year term.
Ten other Republican candidates who ran in the March 10 special election qualified for the May primary. They are former state Sen. Colton Moore, James Edward Tully Jr., Brian Stover, Nicky Lama, Eric Brad Cunningham, Reagan Christane Box, Star Black, Thomas Gray and Beau Brown. Harris is the only Democrat who qualified.
