The Georgia district that sent Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a fierce defender of Donald Trump, to Congress is now deciding how to replace her — and whether to let the president make the pick.

Voters are heading to the polls for a special election Tuesday in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District where all candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party. Of the 17 Republicans in the race, five unofficially withdrew after the deadline and will still appear on the ballot along with three Democrats. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters head to a April 7 runoff.

The Republicans in the contest are all lined up behind Trump’s “Make America Great Again” ideals, but one prominent candidate has split with the president personally, just like the congresswoman he’s vying to succeed.

Greene was initially one of Trump’s closest allies in the House, but she broke with the president over his administration’s handling of the release of records related to the federal investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier this year, she resigned from her seat.

Republican former state Sen. Colton Moore told voters at a candidate forum last month that he had a similar reaction to the release of the Epstein files.

“When this first came out, I trusted that President Trump had some reason to withhold them,” he told the crowd. But as the files were released, he said, “my blood pressure hasn’t been that high in a very long time.”

Also in the GOP field is prosecutor and Air Force veteran Clay Fuller, who earned Trump’s endorsement.

While Moore has sometimes questioned the president and made a name for himself as a disrupter, he also has a record of backing Trump. Moore has said he was the first Georgia elected official to claim fraud in the 2020 presidential election, an unproven charge that other Georgia Republicans have fought against. And Moore has publicly attacked Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who investigated Trump in connection with alleged election racketeering.

Fuller asked voters at the forum who “100% support President Trump” to back him in the special election, saying he would go to Capitol Hill to back up Trump’s border security and immigration agendas.

The president visited Georgia’s 14th District six days later, stopping in Rome, to record a podcast, visit a local restaurant and tour a steel factory. Fuller greeted Trump and spoke briefly during the president’s remarks at the factory.

Trump won the district by 37 points in 2024, a greater margin than Greene’s 29-point lead over then-Vice President Kamala Harris that year. Though Democrats have improved significantly on their performance in recent special elections compared to the 2024 results, that’s an enormous gap.

Still, three Democrats are running, including retired Army Brig. Gen. Shawn Harris, who is a cattle farmer, attorney Jonathan Hobbs and author Jim Davis. Libertarian Andrew Underwood and independent Rob Ruszkowski are also in the running.

Harris told USA Today that he wears a bulletproof vest to campaign events because he gets threats after running against Greene in the past. But he’s still optimistic that he can capitalize on a splintered Republican field, particularly in Tuesday’s special election.

Harris earned an unexpected endorsement from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg late last month, who said he thought the Democrat could flip the seat. Harris has raked in millions of dollars since the start of the year, including $1.6 million in small-dollar donations as of Feb. 18, far more than any Republicans in the race.

Adding to the election’s cost, Republicans have swapped attacks in an ad war that exceeds $2.5 million, according to the ad tracking platform AdImpact.

The GOP candidates have emphasized their support for Trump, while Moore also went negative, calling Fuller’s conservative record into question in a minute-long digital ad.

Fuller touted his Trump endorsement and Air Force service in an ad featuring the president calling him a “total winner.” Two super PACs backing him, Club for Growth and Conservatives for American Excellence, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to run similar messages.

At a Cobb County Republican Party candidate forum, candidate Reagan Box accused Fuller of taking money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

“AIPAC is not a foreign organization, I’m happy to have their support,” Fuller said, adding: “There is no room for antisemitism in the Republican Party, and that’s what you just heard from Reagan Box.”

Campaign finance reports didn’t make clear whether Fuller had received money from groups affiliated with AIPAC, but high-profile conservative super PACs have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting him.

Greene jumped in on X, asking who the AIPAC-backed candidate was. “There may not be an official endorsement but funded indirectly,” she wrote. “They have one, they always do. Remember I never took money from them.”

Mississippi primaries

Mississippi is also holding primary elections Tuesday. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson faces a primary challenge from Evan Turnage, who was an aide for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The race between Thompson, 78, and Turnage, 34, in the deep-blue 2nd District, which includes Jackson, is another generational battle for Democrats. Thompson has outspent Turnage in the race, and Turnage has taken to the airwaves to accuse him of being ineffective.

Meanwhile, Trump has endorsed all three House Republicans running for re-election in the state.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who is also backed by Trump, faces physician Sarah Adlakha in the primary as she seeks a second full term.

Some Democrats have said District Attorney Scott Colom could be a strong candidate, though he faces a steep uphill climb in the traditionally Republican state.