Marjorie Greene defeats John Cowan in the runoff for Georgia's 14th congressional district
- Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated neurosurgeon Dr. John Cowan in the August 11 Republican primary runoff for Georgia's 14th congressional district.
- Greene, a construction executive, has come under scrutiny for making racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic comments and expressing support for the QAnon conspiracy movement.
- Greene will almost certainly win the general election in the deep-red district, which President Trump carried with over 75% of the vote in 2016.
Polls in Georgia mostly closed at 7 PM Eastern Time, but a judge ordered polls in Floyd County, which is included in the 14th district, to remain open until 9 PM after voting problems were reported early in day, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.
The race:
Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated neurosurgeon Dr. John Cowan are facing off in an August 11 Republican primary runoff for Georgia's 14th congressional district.
Greene and Cowan emerged from a crowded June primary with 40% and 21% of the vote, respectively, to replace retiring Rep. Tom Graves in the deeply Republican Northwest Georgia-based district. If neither candidate earns over 50% of the vote in Georgia primaries, the race goes to a runoff.
Both President Donald Trump in 2016 and Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 carried the district with over 75% of the vote, meaning Greene will almost certainly win the general election.
Greene, a construction executive and a staunch Trump supporter, has come under scrutiny since securing a spot in the runoff not just for her far-right beliefs, but for repeatedly making racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic comments in social media live streams and postings, and expressing support for the QAnon conspiracy, which posits that there is a cabal of Satanic, evil "Deep State" elites intent on bringing Trump down. She will now almost certainly be the first person to publicly express belief in the conspiracy to serve in Congress.
She also recently spread the false and anti-Semitic conspiracy that billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros betrayed other Jews during the Holocaust (Soros was born in Hungary in 1930 and was only 15 when World War II ended in 1945).
Politico reported that while Greene's uncovered social media postings initially spurred a wave of condemnations and denunciations from top House Republicans, few have taken any meaningful action to actively block Greene's path to Congress or to boost Cowan.
In the months leading up the runoff, both candidates tried to out-do each other on conservative culture war issues and position themselves as closely as possible to President Donald Trump. Both candidates have heavily played on themes of defending the 14th district from rioters, antifa, and "radical leftists."
Greene tried to paint Cowan as insufficiently conservative, accusing him of being weak and cowardly on issues like the renaming of military bases named for Confederate soldiers, which Trump has opposed.
Meanwhile, Cowan has attacked Greene as an "opportunist" for initially filing to run for Congress in Georgia's 6th district, located in the Atlanta suburbs, in 2018, and tried to somewhat tenuously accuse her of abetting undocumented immigrant taking American jobs by not using the E-Verify system, an accusation that she refuted in a follow-up ad.
Cowan also argued to Politico that his election is essential to prevent Greene and her inflammatory comments from being a thorn in the side of the rest of the GOP possibly for years to come, telling the outlet: "She deserves a YouTube channel, not a seat in Congress. She's a circus act."
In a statement following Greene's runoff victory, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Rep. Cheri Bustos compared Greene to Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who publicly expressed racist and xenophobic beliefs for years, lost his committee assignments after rhetorically wondering when terms like "white supremacy" became offensive in an interview with The New York Times, and was defeated by a Republican primary challenger this June.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene is a next-generation Steve King who is now the Republican nominee for Congress because Minority Leader McCarthy refused to meaningfully oppose her racist candidacy," Bustos said in a statement. "Enabled and embraced by Georgia Republicans like Karen Handel and Rich McCormick, her views have no place on the ballot or in Congress. Georgia Republicans, and Republican candidates running across the country, will have to answer for her hateful views in their own campaigns."
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