Georgia voters to pick replacement for Marjorie Taylor Greene in special election

Her name isn't on the ballot. She no longer serves in Congress. But Marjorie Taylor Greene is looming large in the minds of north-west Georgia voters as they prepare to choose her replacement in Washington.

Known for her hard-line Christian conservative views, brash committee appearances, and embrace of multiple conspiracy theories, Greene quickly became one of the most prominent Republican members of Congress after winning her seat in 2020.

"She did some stuff off the wall," said Justin Leonard, a 28-year-old firefighter in Georgia's 14th congressional district, who voted for Greene twice. "Kind of making conservatives look a little right-wing and a little like nut jobs. But other than that, I think she did her job."

But when Greene broke her unwavering support for US President Donald Trump late last year, the pair's rift descended into a very public feud that ultimately led to her decision to quit Congress in January.

"She loved her country, she loved Christ, she believed in values," Leonard said. "Unfortunately, she kind of went off the rails a little."

On Tuesday, voters in Leonard's area, a Republican stronghold, will decide who will take Greene's place on Capitol Hill in a special election.

Trump himself has bequeathed his "complete and total endorsement" to a Republican former district attorney named Clay Fuller. But Fuller is just one of 17 candidates in a crowded field that features both Democrats and Republicans.

And Greene's voters share her resistance to being told what to do, even by a president they admire.

Greene's feud with the president began over Trump's initial opposition to releasing the Epstein files - something Greene had vocally campaigned for.

She called Trump's movement "a lie", while Trump called Greene "a traitor".

In November, Greene announced her resignation from the House, and has since become one of the most vocal critics of Trump - who ultimately signed a law that ordered the justice department to release all of its Epstein files.

Greene is especially vocal regarding Trump's foreign policy, which she says betrays his "America First" agenda.

"We campaigned on NO MORE FOREIGN WARS OR REGIME CHANGE!!! Liars every single one of them!" she posted on X on Sunday.

Some voters told the BBC they hoped that backing Fuller would avoid another Greene-like schism with the president.

"I've seen the Clay Fuller commercials - Trump wants him to win it," said Jeremy Ashley, a 52-year-old Republican voter. Ashley said the president's endorsement helped him choose a candidate from the crowded field.

If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote on Tuesday, a run-off between the top-two finishers, regardless of party, will occur on 7 April. The winner will serve the last few months of Greene's term, and must then campaign again to win the scheduled midterm election in November.

Others say Trump's endorsement is not the only factor that matters in this race.

Though he "loved Trump to death" and voted for him three times, Leonard, the firefighter, said he was going with another Republican candidate - a risk management consultant named Beau Brown - because he wanted "someone that has professionalism".

Nicholas Fennell, 42, supported Greene for years, but "not after how she's been kind of acting crazy, to me," he said. "I feel like she flipped the script when her and Trump didn't get along."

Fennell said Trump's endorsement was a factor, but not the only one, in determining his vote. "I take his opinion into consideration, I guess, but it's not like, the final word," he said.

Instead, Fennell said he planned to vote for State Senator Colton Moore – a Republican who did not receive Trump's endorsement, but perhaps embodies the president's pugnacious persona more than any of his other conservative rivals.

In 2024, Moore was banned from the floor of the Georgia state house after he denounced the chamber's late Republican speaker, David Ralston, as "corrupt" during a memorial service. The next year, Moore was arrested after trying to enter the chamber for the state governor's speech despite the ban.

Moore's congressional campaign website displays his own mugshot from that incident next to Trump's now-famous mugshot from 2023, when the president was indicted on charges he led a conspiracy to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. (Trump pleaded not guilty, and a judge dismissed the case last year after it fell apart due to prosecutorial errors.)

In the state house, Moore has developed a reputation as one of Georgia's most conservative lawmakers - who, much like Greene, is unafraid to publicly challenge the Republican leadership.

It is not, however, a comparison he wants to dwell on.

"Please understand, Marjorie is gone," Moore told the BBC in a brief phone interview last week. "This is a new election for a new day."

"One thing that's very different between Marjorie and I is I'm not a quitter, I don't just quit," he said.

Moore believes his staunchly conservative, unabashedly controversial brand could prevail in a competitive race.

"We're bustin' tail all we can," he said. "We've got a big problem ahead of us: all the swamp money is being spent against us. We've got the volunteers and the grassroots. Our opponents have the swamp money."

His bluntness is something that Benito Rubino, a 21-year-old volunteer with the campaign, likes.

"Colton has that same appeal as Marjorie," he said.

"What appealed to me is that she's very open-minded. She called out corruption," Rubino said. "Something about her really spoke to the people."

But her quitting has left the district vulnerable, he said.

"So far nobody's happy with Marjorie, with the fact that she quit so early," he said of local Republicans. "It's making it an easier chance Democrats can possibly win this."

That is certainly something Democrats hoped may happen, despite the odds.

"What makes it different is, Marjorie is not in the race," said Shawn Harris, a local farmer and retired brigadier general. He unsuccessfully challenged Greene in 2024, and is running again this year.

"Marjorie was larger than life. No matter where you lived in the world, you knew Marjorie Taylor Greene," Harris told the BBC. "This time, I'm running against 16, 17 other people."

Harris still has an uphill battle: in the 2024 election, he only earned 35% of the vote, compared with Greene's 64%. If Harris heads to a run-off with a single Republican, he may have to contend with a unified conservative voting base rather than the splintered field that he faces on Tuesday.

His best shot, therefore, might be winning outright in the first round. On Sunday, he and half a dozen supporters spent a rainy morning knocking on doors in the city of Marietta, reminding Democratic voters to head to the polls on Tuesday. Harris enthusiastically greeted voters who answered their doors, even running up hilly driveways to shake their hands and handing out his personal phone number.

The opportunity has given Democrats in the region, like Cobb County Democrats volunteer Parin Chheda, a much-needed boost of optimism.

"I just want the headline: Democrats flip Marjorie Taylor Greene's district," he said.