Race To Replace GA Rep. Jumpstarted With Veteran's Bid

A Democratic retired Bridgadier general on Monday announced his bid to replace U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., three days after she revealed she will resign from office in January.

Shawn Harris, Greene's former opponent in the November 2024 congressional race, said he is now running to fill her soon-to-be vacant seat in the 14th district.

A commonality between the former contenders is the release of the Epstein files. Harris - an Army and Marine Corps. veteran from Blakely - told News Nation both he and Greene advocated for the release of the files, surmising Greene's stance could have led to the Republican Party parting ways with her.

"Marjorie Taylor Greene and Shawn Harris agreed at least one time on one issue," Harris said in the interview.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act, related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, became law Wednesday after being approved by Congress.

Greene, in a more than 10-minute video posted online, explained her decision to resign and said she didn’t want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for,” she said.

She added her last day would be Jan. 5, 2026, about a year before her current term is slated to end. She first took office on Jan. 3, 2021.

Gov. Brian Kemp is reportedly slated to call for a special election to replace Greene.

Not everyone feels solemn about Greene leaving office. Fellow U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he is sad but happy for his "friend Marjorie."

"I’ll miss her tremendously," he tweeted Friday. "She embodies what a true Representative should be. Everyone should read her statement; there’s more honesty expressed in these four pages than most politicians will speak in a lifetime."

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Greene’s resignation followed a public fallout with Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on files related to Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.

Trump branded her a “traitor” and “wacky” and said he would endorse a challenger against her when she ran for reelection next year.

Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win.

Greene’s restlessness only intensified in July, when she announced she wouldn’t run for Georgia governor, either.

She was also frustrated with the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, which worked in lockstep with the president.

Greene said in her video that “the legislature has been mostly sidelined” since Republicans took unified control of Washington in January and her bills “just sit collecting dust."

“That’s how it is for most members of Congress’ bills,” she said. “The speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote.”

Republicans will likely lose the midterms elections next year, Greene said, and then she’d “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting and writing.