In race to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene, candidates steer clear of Trump rift
-
Patrik Jonsson Staff writer
Reagan Box didn鈥檛 plan to become the Door Dash candidate.
But when she quit her job as a horse trainer to launch her congressional campaign, Ms. Box needed a way to keep paying the bills. And as she began delivering food around the northwest Georgia district that, until three months ago, was represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene, she realized it wasn鈥檛 a bad way to get to know voters.
鈥淚 keep hearing, 鈥業鈥檝e never seen anyone willing to do this to run for office,鈥欌�� says Ms. Box. 鈥淎nd doing that has given me insight into the struggles and failures within all this 鈥� stuff that most people would never experience.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
The 17 candidates competing in Tuesday鈥檚 special election for Georgia鈥檚 14th Congressional District run the gamut from a trash hauler to a hot dog slinger. The large field reflects a somewhat splintered Republican coalition, as former Representative Greene keeps lobbing a steady stream of criticism against her onetime ally, President Donald Trump.
Ms. Box, who says she was named after President Ronald Reagan, is one of a whopping 17 candidates vying to replace Ms. Greene, a onetime ally of Donald Trump who resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives in January after a falling-out with the president. The 12 Republicans, three Democrats, and two independents in the race include a trash hauler, a hot dog slinger, a pastor, a political writer, a former judge advocate general, a truck driver, and a handful of farmers. With so many candidates, Tuesday鈥檚 special election is highly likely to result in an April 7 runoff between the two top vote-getters.
The large field reflects a somewhat splintered Republican coalition. Ms. Greene has maintained a public profile since leaving Washington, and in interviews and social media posts she has issued a steady stream of criticism against President Trump. She accuses him of betraying the MAGA base on a host of issues, from the Epstein files to the war with Iran 鈥� a message some analysts say could very well resonate.
鈥淭here are probably a lot of Republican voters who agree with Greene鈥檚 position that Trump should be spending more time with domestic concerns, not foreign policy,鈥� says Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, in Athens.
The deep-red 14th district, which stretches from Lookout Mountain on the Tennessee border to the Atlanta exurbs, has a history of sending controversial candidates to Congress. In the 1970s the region was represented by Larry McDonald, a conservative Democrat and staunch anti-communist who chaired the John Birch Society, and who died when his plane was shot down after entering Soviet airspace in 1983.
Ms. Greene became a lightning rod after winning the seat in 2020 because of her public statements supporting conspiracy theories and her aggressive confrontations with fellow lawmakers. She later backed off or moderated some of those positions, but she remained one of the most high-profile House members until her resignation. She said she decided to resign her post in January in part because of a against her family, as well as general disillusionment with politics.
鈥淔or a member of Congress to become such a household name is highly unusual, and that鈥檚 brought a lot of profile to the district,鈥� says Nathan Price, a political science professor at the University of North Georgia.
Ms. Greene entered Congress as one of Mr. Trump鈥檚 most vocal supporters, arguing that he actually won the 2020 election. But she later broke with Mr. Trump amid his administration鈥檚 initial resistance to releasing files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and over what she calls Mr. Trump鈥檚 abandonment of the 鈥淎merica First鈥� agenda. She has not made an endorsement in the race to replace her.
For the candidates hoping to win her seat, in a district where President Trump remains popular, it鈥檚 a tricky line to walk.
With Ms. Greene, 鈥渨e elected somebody in our district that was not a typical politician 鈥� and the district loved her,鈥� says Republican candidate Jenna Turnipseed, an Army veteran who runs Chickamauga Creek Farms with her husband, John, near the Tennessee border. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what made a bunch of people who might not typically be seen as politicians willing to run.鈥�
Mr. Trump has endorsed Republican district attorney Clay Fuller, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard who worked for the first Trump administration. The president came to the district in February to stump for Mr. Fuller.
Yet if his endorsement was intended to clear the field, it seems to have only galvanized the race. One reason may be Mr. Trump鈥檚 poor endorsement record in Georgia 鈥� eight of his ten endorsed candidates in the state lost in 2022.
鈥淚n other parts of the country, a Trump endorsement seals the deal, but that鈥檚 not been the experience in Georgia,鈥� says Professor Bullock.
Mr. Fuller鈥檚 top GOP rival, in terms of name recognition, is former state Sen. Colton Moore, a truck driver who has held events featuring . Both men hail from Dade County, in the state鈥檚 far northwest corner.
For Mr. Moore, the large field obscures what he describes as simple math: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a two-man race at this point,鈥� he says. Whoever emerges as the top Republican vote-getter on Tuesday is likely to face Democrat Shawn Harris in the April 7 runoff 鈥� and will be heavily favored to win in this conservative district.
During his time in the state senate, Mr. Moore sponsored a slew of conservative legislation and was barred from entering the House chamber after Republican lawmakers said he impugned the reputation of a late political leader. He was arrested last year after trying to enter the chamber.
Mr. Harris lost in 2024 to Ms. Greene, taking 35% of the vote to her 65%. This time around, he has amassed a $4 million campaign war chest, the largest in the race. A north Georgia cattle farmer and a Marine veteran, Mr. Harris has sought to play up his rural roots.
He sees the split between Ms. Greene and Mr. Trump as a sign of a larger discontent within the electorate that he believes will give candidates like him an opening. As 鈥渢hings started changing in the district, Greene and Trump started disagreeing,鈥� he says.
The rest of the field ranges from staunch 鈥淎merica First鈥� conservatives like Nicky Lama, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from Dalton, to more moderate candidates like Ms. Box, the Door Dash driver, who says she hopes to work across party lines to tackle domestic issues.
A lot of Republicans are talking about 鈥渨ho Trump wants,鈥� says Ms. Box. But 鈥渋t鈥檚 about who we want, dude.鈥�
