Trump visits Rome, Georgia to boost Clay Fuller in special election

🍑Georgia's 14th Congressional District opened up on January 5, 2026, when Marjorie Taylor Greene submitted her resignation rather than face a primary challenge Trump had signaled he would support. The seat covers 13 counties in northwest Georgia — including Floyd, Catoosa, Whitfield, and Walker — and is one of the most reliably Republican districts in the country, with a Cook Partisan Voter Index of R+22. Trump won the district with roughly 68 percent of the vote in 2020.

The break between Trump and Greene began over multiple policy disputes in 2025 — including Greene's criticism of U.S. support for Israel, her appearance on Bill Maher's show and The View, and ultimately her co-sponsorship of a vote forcing release of the Epstein files over White House objections. Trump rescinded his endorsement of Greene on November 14, 2025, publicly attacking her on Truth Social. She announced her resignation on November 21, 2025, effective January 5, 2026.

Under Article I, Section 2, Clause 4 of the U.S

Constitution, House vacancies cannot be filled by gubernatorial appointment — only by election

🍑Georgia Governor BKBrian Kemp issued his writ of election on January 6, 2026, setting March 10 as the special general election date Under Georgia Code § 21-2-543, all candidates — regardless of party — appear on a single ballot, and a runoff between the top two finishers is scheduled for April 7 if no one clears 50 percent.

Twenty-one candidates qualified for the March 10 ballot: 16 Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, and one independent. The crowded Republican field is the central challenge for Trump's preferred candidate.

Trump first endorsed CFClay Fuller via Truth Social on February 4, 2026, and confirmed the endorsement in person on February 19 at Coosa Steel, saying 'I'm endorsing that man very fully.' The Club for Growth PAC also endorsed Fuller.

CFClay Fuller is the District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, covering four northwest 🍑Georgia counties. He holds degrees from Emory University, Cornell's graduate school, and Southern Methodist University School of Law.

He served as a White House Fellow in Trump's first term (2018–2019), working in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Defense.

He is also a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. Fuller ran against Greene in the 2020 Republican primary and received 6.8 percent of the vote.

In a February 14 candidate forum, former state senator and auctioneer CMColton Moore — who calls himself 'Trump's Floor Leader' — won a post-forum straw poll with 45 percent of the vote. Fuller finished second.

Moore resigned from the 🍑Georgia state senate to run, as required under Georgia's resign-to-run law.

Nicky Lama, a former Dalton city council member and businessman, is a third significant Republican competitor. With 16 Republicans splitting the vote, no candidate may reach 50 percent, making the April 7 runoff the likely decisive contest.

In his February 19 speech, Trump praised tariffs, claimed inflation was solved, and revived debunked 2020 election fraud claims — including praise for the January 28, 2026 FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections Hub, in which agents seized nearly 700 boxes of 2020 election records including all ballots, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls. Legal experts called the raid unprecedented. Fulton County called the affidavit backing the warrant a 'smorgasbord of witness speculation' based on claims that had already been investigated and dismissed.

The FBI's Fulton County affidavit relied on fraud claims that state and federal officials had already investigated and cleared. 🍑Georgia's State Election Board unanimously dismissed the underlying complaint in 2024.

Fulton County entered a 2023 consent order with the State Election Board in which both parties acknowledged there was no intentional misconduct and that no errors affected the 2020 result. ProPublica and NPR independently reviewed the warrant affidavit and found it repeated previously debunked claims while omitting the results of prior investigations.

Political science research published in Electoral Studies found that Trump endorsements generated 'consistent and substantial' electoral benefits in Republican primaries across 2018–2022. However, the same research found endorsed candidates received an aggregate vote share penalty of about 1.5 points in general elections. In the GA-14 context, the more relevant question is whether the endorsement plus a personal visit can consolidate enough of the 16-way Republican primary field to avoid a runoff — or whether it simply makes Fuller the plurality leader while Moore, Lama, and others split the conservative vote.