All eyes on Georgia as Trump-backed candidate battles in high-stakes congressional showdown

It’s Primary Day in Republican-dominated Mississippi, where House and Senate nomination contests are being held in the Deep South state.

But a special congressional election 200 miles to the east in to fill a vacant GOP-held congressional seat will likely grab much more national attention Tuesday.

The race is to fill the seat in Georgia’s solidly red 14th Congressional District — in the northwest part of the state — left vacant when MAGA firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with President .

And the special election is being held as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House. The GOP cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in the special election, in a district Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory.

Twenty-two candidates initially filed to run for the vacant seat, but that number is down to a still crowded field of 17 contenders, after a handful bowed out of the contest.

All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, are on the same ballot. And If no candidate tops 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two contenders will advance to a runoff April 7.

Trump is backing Clay Fuller, one of the 12 in the race. 

Trump teamed up with Fuller, the district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, during a stop in the district last month. Speaking ahead of the president at an event in Rome, Georgia, Fuller described himself as a “MAGA warrior.

Also running is former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump supporter who enjoys plenty of support from the far right.

Among the three Democrats running for the seat is retired Army Brigadier Gen. Shaw Harris, the who lost to Greene in 2024. With $4.3 million raised, Harris is the fundraising champion among all 17 candidates.

While Fuller is considered the favorite thanks to Trump’s endorsement, with just three Democrats in the race, Harris has a shot of securing one of the two runoff spots no candidate tops the 50% threshold in the primary.

, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a GOP primary challenge — as she seeks a second full six-year term — from physician and novelist Sarah Adlakha.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s longest-serving current member of Congress and the only Democrat in the delegation, faces two primary challengers as he seeks an 18th two-year term in the House.