Mysterious text sparks questions after Clay Fuller’s runoff win

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Jason Carter rebukes President Donald Trump over his threat against Iran’s population.
• Burt Jones shows off his canned B.S.
• Clay Fuller wins handily in the 14th District, but faces May primary challenges.

Did Fuller underperform?

Clay Fuller and his wife, Kate Fuller, smile as they talk with supporters at his runoff election watch party at the Historic Ringgold Depot on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Around the time that polls closed in the runoff deciding who would replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, a mysterious text message began pinging cellphones in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.

“Should Clay Fuller underperform tonight would you be willing to support a REAL true conservative like Colton Moore in the REAL Republican primary on May 19th?” the text read.

Moore, a former state senator, finished third in the March 10 special election that preceded Tuesday’s runoff between Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris. Fuller emerged victorious, besting Harris by 14 percentage points with 99% of the vote counted.

Moore also qualified for the May primary, and he is expected to challenge Fuller for the Republican nomination to seek a full two-year term.

What is unclear about the text message is whether Fuller’s victory qualifies as an underperformance. Greene beat Harris in 2024 by 28 percentage points. Trump got an even larger slice of voters’ support on the same ballot. Digging deeper, Harris saw a 20 to 30 point shift toward the Democrat in every county that voted.

Fuller, who was endorsed by Trump but relatively unknown districtwide before this contest, did not have the power of incumbency behind his name. And the slimmer-than-usual margin could say more about voters’ frustrations with the president amid rising gas prices and an ongoing war in Iran than his chosen candidate.

Fuller dismissed any concern that the results Tuesday night failed to meet expectations. He noted that Harris had the support of the Democratic Party, which poured resources into boosting his campaign.

“What you’re seeing is the best that they can accomplish,” he said. “The votes are still going to be pouring in, the margin is going to get wider and wider, and we completely dominated this performance, and I feel confident about it.”

Things to know

A voter leaves the Oak Road Lutheran Church after casting his ballot for the special election for the House District 94 election in March 2025. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:

• Voters elected two Democratic state representatives and one Republican state senator Tuesday in special election runoffs for state legislative seats. The results won’t change the partisan makeup at the Capitol, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
• Recent Easter weekend shootings have thrust teen violence back into the spotlight, as pressure mounts to keep crime down ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup games, the AJC’s Riley Bunch reports.
• A group of public safety and policing bills await Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature, the AJC’s Caroline Silva reports, including the measure to make DA elections in five metro Atlanta counties nonpartisan.

‘Enough is enough.’

Jason Carter, former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, speaks during the unveiling of the Jimmy Carter "forever" stamp in October 2025. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Jason Carter, the grandson of the late President Jimmy Carter, spoke out against Trump on Tuesday after the president issued an ultimatum to the leaders of Iran warning “a whole civilization will die tonight” if the country did not meet a deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In a video, Carter called Trump’s threat against the Iranian population “an outrage.”

“It’s un-American. It’s un-Christian. It violates every conceivable moral code,” he said.

The younger Carter is the chair of the board of trustees of the Carter Center in Atlanta. The human rights organization has worked for decades to negotiate peace agreements around the world. Carter warned that if Trump acted on his threats he would be breaking both U.S. and international law.

“If my grandfather were here, he would challenge all Americans, Democrats, Republicans and especially Christians who worship the Prince of Peace to stand up and say, enough is enough,” Carter said, noting that while the Islamist government has been an enemy of the United States, and even his family, the people of Iran never have. “This country must be better than Donald Trump’s unbridled and dangerous rhetoric.”

On Tuesday evening, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.”

‘Cans of BS’

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones speaks during the last day of the legislative session, Sine Die, at the Georgia state Capitol. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones posted a video of himself at a tire store in southwest Georgia holding a rather unusual prop.

“I finally found what Rick Jackson is selling down here, I want y’all to look at that right here,” he says, pointing to a can of barbecue seasoning sold by a Dahlonega-based company.

The name of the product can’t be printed in a family newsletter. Let’s just say it rhymes with “full spit.” Predictably, his rivals in the GOP race for governor didn’t let it sit for long.

A Jackson campaign account quipped: “Didn’t get real property tax relief done. Didn’t get election integrity done. Couldn’t get his opponent kicked off the ballot. Burt’s record is BS, but don’t take our word for it!”

And Attorney General Chris Carr’s camp was just as gleeful. Chief strategist Heath Garrett likened it to a Michael Dukakis-in-the-tank moment.

“If my candidate ever attempted to hold cans of BS,” he told us, “I would tackle him before any video or photographic evidence was allowed.”

Hispanic numbers

Democrat Shawn Harris attends his watch party at the Marriott Riverwalk in Rome on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Special elections are notoriously difficult to parse, but an analysis from Jacob Rubashkin from Inside Elections about Hispanic voter performance last night is worth paying attention to.

Rubashkin noted that while Shawn Harris improved upon Kamala Harris’ overall 2024 margin in the district by 25%, in the most Hispanic precincts in the district, he beat her margins by a massive 42%. Shawn Harris won those precincts by 28%, while Kamala Harris won them by 14%.

All five of the precincts are in Whitfield County, where jobs in the carpet industry have long attracted a large Hispanic workforce and where, last summer, the Hispanic population was deeply affected by Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Listen up

Outgoing House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, R-Milton, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Wednesday on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, we sit down for a full episode with outgoing House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones as she prepares to step down after more than two decades under the Gold Dome.

Jones reflects on her rise through Republican leadership, her focus on education policy and why she decided now was the time to leave office. She also discusses her approach to power behind the scenes, and her role in shaping legislation and mentoring the next generation of leaders.

You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.