Special Election To Replace Marjorie Taylor Greene Called
The run-off election in northwest Georgia to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally-turned-critic who left her seat in Congress in January, has been called.
VoteHub projected that Republican Clay Fuller has defeated Democrat Shawn Harris in the run-off election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
It’s important to remember that turnout is usually low in special elections, especially special runoff elections. This means that voter enthusiasm can have a bigger impact on the outcome than in bigger elections.
The general primary for the full term is on May 19, so these candidates may not be done fighting each other yet. Last month, Fuller and Harris both made it onto the ballot, along with many of the people they ran against in the special election in March.
President Donald Trump endorsed Fuller, a former prosecutor and Air Force veteran, and his victory tonight will provide Speaker Mike Johnson with more flexibility in his small House Republican majority.
Fuller has repeatedly said he would be “a warrior for President Trump on Capitol Hill,” but other Republican candidates have also promised to support the president’s plans fully.
“There’s a lot of folks who talk a big conservative game, but when it comes down to doing conservative stuff, they’re nowhere to be found,” Moore said Monday in an interview on a conservative talk radio show on WLAQ, a station in the district based in Rome, Georgia. “We need to find a fighter, a legislator, who’s willing to bring that fight with true vigor.”
The 14th Congressional District is massive, covering 10 counties from the Atlanta suburbs to the Appalachian foothills along the Tennessee state line.
Despite being Trump’s stronghold, the 14th Congressional District is home to a significant number of Democrats and independents, which could potentially unsettle Republicans in a special election.
Earlier this year, President Trump criticized Greene during a rally, days before she left Congress in early January.
Trump made the remarks at a campaign rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. During his speech, Trump referred to Greene as a “stone-cold liberal” and “highly neurotic,” Mediaite reported.
Trump suggested their relationship deteriorated because he did not return her phone calls frequently enough.
Greene recently announced she would resign from Congress following months of tension with Republican leadership. She has publicly criticized members of her own party on issues including affordability, healthcare, and the handling of the Epstein files.
Greene said she decided to leave Congress to avoid what she described as a “hateful primary” backed by Trump.
Trump mocked Greene by referring to her as “Marjorie Traitor Brown.” He said he chose the nickname because, in his words, “green turns to brown under stress.”
“What the hell happened to her?” Trump said during the rally. He claimed Greene appears frequently on CNN and suggested that marked a shift in her political alignment.
Trump said the demands of the presidency made it impossible to speak with every member of Congress regularly.
Trump told the crowd he is responsible for managing relationships with hundreds of lawmakers, dozens of senators, and foreign leaders, in addition to his family.
“You can’t call a president every single day,” Trump said. He said Greene complained publicly after he stopped returning her calls.
Trump again described Greene as “highly neurotic” later in his remarks. He dismissed suggestions that Greene was “brave” for resigning from Congress. Trump said he would have endorsed a primary challenger who would have defeated Greene.
“No, brave would be to stay,” Trump said. Greene has not publicly responded to Trump’s remarks.
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
