Trump-Backed Prosecutor Wins Georgia Seat After Greene's Epstein Files Resignation

Clay Fuller, a Georgia district attorney who positioned himself as "100% supporting President Trump," won the special election to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday, NBC News projects. Fuller defeated Democrat Shawn Harris 57.5% to 42.5% in a runoff election that exposed fractures within the Republican Party over the Epstein files and loyalty to Trump.

The seat opened up after Greene resigned in January following her public break with Trump over his administration's handling of documents related to the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Greene, once among Trump's most vocal House allies, walked away from Congress over the issue -- a departure that highlighted growing tensions between absolute Trump loyalty and accountability for elite sexual predators.

Fuller leaned hard into his Trump endorsement throughout the campaign, appearing with the president at a district event and running ads touting his support. He pitched himself as the natural successor in a district Trump carried by 37 percentage points in 2024, emphasizing his record as a local prosecutor, his service as a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard, and his role as a White House fellow during Trump's first administration.

But the primary revealed cracks in the MAGA coalition. Harris, a retired Army brigadier general and cattle rancher, actually won more votes than Fuller in the initial all-party primary, though the Republican vote was split among 17 candidates. Harris raised $6.4 million and ran ads attacking "out-of-touch politicians" from both parties who "don't understand how difficult things are for hardworking Georgians."

The race also eliminated Republican former state Sen. Colton Moore, who had questioned the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files release. Moore, a self-described disrupter who claimed to be the first Georgia elected official to allege fraud in the 2020 election, found himself squeezed between Trump loyalists and those demanding transparency about powerful men's connections to a sex trafficking operation.

National super PACs poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race to secure Fuller's victory. Club for Growth and Conservatives for American Excellence backed Trump's pick, while questions swirled about Fuller's relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

At a Cobb County Republican Party forum, candidate Reagan Box accused Fuller of taking AIPAC money. Fuller denied the charge but welcomed the group's support, adding, "There is no room for antisemitism in the Republican Party." Campaign finance reports didn't clearly show whether Fuller received money from AIPAC-affiliated groups.

Greene weighed in on social media, asking who the AIPAC-backed candidate was and noting, "There may not be an official endorsement but funded indirectly. They have one, they always do. Remember I never took money from them." AIPAC congratulated Fuller on advancing to the runoff and attacked Greene for working "throughout her tenure to weaken the U.S.-Israel relationship."

The special election underscores the ongoing power struggle within Republican politics between those willing to question Trump on specific issues -- particularly the Epstein files and elite accountability -- and those who define loyalty as total, unquestioning support. Fuller's victory suggests that in deep-red Georgia districts, Trump's endorsement still trumps everything else, even when the seat opened because his predecessor dared to ask questions about powerful men's connections to a convicted sex trafficker.

Fuller will serve out the remainder of Greene's term, which runs through January 2027. Whether he maintains the same level of Trump loyalty that got him elected -- or whether the Epstein files issue continues to divide the Republican caucus -- remains to be seen.