14th District and State Senate District 53 Races Headed to April 7 Runoffs
Two closely watched special elections in northwest Georgia are headed to runoff votes after no candidate won a majority on Tuesday. In Georgia’s 14th Congressional District race, Republican Clay Fuller led the field with 43.48% of the vote, followed by Democrat Shawn Harris with 26.72%, while Republican Colton Moore finished third with 21.04%. Because no candidate cleared 50%, Fuller and Harris will advance to a runoff on April 7.
Fuller received 4,482 votes, Harris received 2,755, and Moore received 2,169 in the special election to fill the 14th District seat. The runoff will decide who replaces former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress.
The Georgia State Senate District 53 special election is also headed to a runoff. Republican Lanny Thomas finished first with 42.31% and 4,296 votes, while Democrat Jack Zibluk placed second with 26.16% and 2,656 votes. Republican Denise Pierce Burns received 19.74% with 2,004 votes, and Republican Blake Elsberry finished with 11.79% and 1,197 votes.
Since no candidate in the District 53 race received more than 50%, Thomas and Zibluk will move on to the April 7 runoff as well. Both runoff elections are part of Georgia’s special election process when no candidate wins an outright majority.
Election officials are expected to continue updating and certifying results, but Tuesday night’s totals were enough to set the runoff match-ups for both races.