Hello, I'm Candace Pressley, director of community affairs for WSB TV.

Welcome to the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series from the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The 2026 debate series was made possible by grants to the Atlanta Press Club from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Robert Charles Loudermilk Senior Foundation.

This is the runoff debate for the Congressional District 14 special election.

The winner of this race will complete the term of Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned at the start of the year.

District 14 is in the northwest corner of Georgia, going up to the Tennessee state line.

Counties in the district Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris are the two remaining in the race.

We have two journalists who will question the candidates.

Sarah Kallis is the politics reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting, and Josh row anchors News Channel nine and Fox.

Chattanooga.

I'm going to kick off today's debate asking each of the candidates to introduce themselves and tell viewers why they should be the next representative for district 14.

Candidates will have 45 seconds to respond to the question.

Clay Fuller.

You get the first introduction.

Hello.

Hi.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

One thing is clear.

We need an America First fighter to stand strong for northwest Georgia in the March 10 election.

I received an overwhelming 58% of the Republican votes cast.

Even with 12 Republicans on the ballot.

And now it is time for us to come together and defeat the radical left.

I've been a fighter all my life.

I've been a college athlete.

So go Emory University.

As you fight for a national championship here in the Final Four in Division three, I'm a cancer survivor, Air Force officer, and America first prosecutor.

And I'm one of you.

I've been raised in these North Georgia mountains where there are too many front porches with empty chairs because of the fentanyl crisis that was created by the left's open border policies.

As a military veteran and prosecutor.

5 seconds.

I've worn the uniform and I've fought for this country.

And in the courtrooms of this community.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller.

Of this community.

Thank you, Mr.

Fuller.

And now, Shawn Harris, please introduce yourself and tell the viewers why you should be the next district 14 representative.

Hey, northwest Georgia, this is Shawn Harris.

As you guys know, I've been traveling throughout the entire district talking to you, but importantly, listening to you.

As you know, this election is going to come down to leadership and what we talk about all the time is leadership matters.

The reality of it is the economy is bad.

You are struggling trying to make ends meet.

On top of that, farmers are losing their farms and veterans are struggling.

I am your candidate that's going to fight directly for you, period.

I'm the only candidate that can stand here today and say that I'm a Democrat, but I'm not tied to the party.

My my fellow candidate here, Clay, is tied, and he has sold his soul to the Donald Trump.

The reality of it is he cannot fight for you because he.

That's time, Mr.

Harris.

Mr.

Harris, that's time.

Thank you very much.

We're now going to go to the panel.

Who will ask each of you one question?

Candidates.

You'll have 60s to respond to each question, and I will determine if a rebuttal is appropriate.

Sarah Kallis, please ask your first question to Shawn Harris.

Mr.

Harris, do you support the U.S.. Sending ground troops to Iran?

That is a very good question, and thank you for that question, because I spent 40 years in the military.

The reality of it is this war that we're in right now is a war of choice.

The president was advised not to do it.

He did it, and now he's trying to figure out how we're going to get out of it.

So to answer your question directly, we should not put ground troops on the ground, because this is not a war that we should be in.

We should be trying to pull back out of it and make sure that we can take care of all our soldiers around the world and all our veterans here back at home.

The focus should be how do we get this economy back together?

How do we take care of our farmers, and how do we take care of all the hard working people in northwest Georgia?

Josh Roe, it's your turn to ask Clay Fuller a question.

This past Thursday, March 19th, you posted a video onto Facebook where you say, quote, we won the war against inflation.

Core inflation is to its lowest point in five years.

The point about core inflation is true.

The problem with that is core inflation is specific part of inflation.

It does not account for gas prices that have raised for $1 per gallon across the state of Georgia does not account for food prices that have increased by 25%.

When you put that out there and not explaining what core inflation is, why do you do that?

Well, I'm happy to explain what core inflation is.

It is a better reflection of what the real picture of the economic realities and inflation is in this country.

And so it represents since this is the lowest core inflation rate that we've had since 2021, it is showing that the economic policies of President Trump are working.

The reason that we have in core inflation rate is to take those volatile assets out of it and see what is actually happening in the country from an economic standpoint.

President Trump's policies are working.

He inherited the worst inflationary crisis that a president has seen in the last 50-60 years, and he has fixed that in almost a year.

And core inflation rate is at its lowest point.

And that is a true fact.

And it shows the real economic policies of President Trump are working for hardworking Americans.

In Georgia.

14 Josh, you get a question now for Shawn Harris.

The member of Congress who just stepped down from his seat, was well known for the things that she said, criticized what she said in part for the way she talked about political opponents in this race.

You have said that about Clay Fuller here.

You said he is weak.

You said he can't stand on his own two feet.

You're watching an interview with him.

He said his voice was cracking.

How is this different than what we've seen in the past from this member of Congress in the past?

And you talk a lot about serving the people of northwest Georgia.

How does any of that serve anybody?

You know, the reality of it is I just call a spade a spade.

And the reality of it is Clay is an outstanding leader.

I got to give him credit for that.

He's a veteran, and I want to make sure that is very clear.

But the reality of it is I was quite surprised that Clay would actually sell his soul to Donald Trump and say, I'm going to.

He's going to put himself before all the hard working people here in northwest Georgia.

The difference between Marjorie Taylor Greene and I. Marjorie has no filter at all, and I am always going to treat people with duty and respect.

But at the end of the day, Clay at this point, I feel sorry for him because he has basically said to Donald Trump, when you go to if he gets the opportunity to come to D.C., he's going to focus on one thing, and that is just Donald Trump, and it's going to cause all of us here in northwest Georgia not to be able to get anything, just like we did under Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Okay.

That's time.

And I'm going to give Mr.

Fuller an opportunity to respond to that.

Well, Mr.

Harris, I'd like to tell you a little bit about my voice.

I was diagnosed with cancer at 31.

I was told going into that 13 hour surgery that I was probably never going to be able to speak again, which is a problematic thing for a prosecutor.

I thought that my daughter would never be able to hear my voice.

When I went to that 13 hour surgery, they had to scrape cancer off my vocal cords.

So if you hear my voice break, that's why I've stood on my own two feet.

When I did my first salute to my grandfather, who was a naval aviator in World War Two, I stood on my own two feet in the courtrooms of this community, fighting for our community, and I will stand.

On my.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller, for that.

And now, Sarah, you get that last question in this round and it will go to Clay Fuller.

Mr.

Fuller should Ice agents be required to seek a judicial warrant before entering a home?

The thing that we need to talk about when it comes to Ice agents, they are making sure that they are enforcing federal law.

So if there is a requirement to go into a home, they obviously have to follow the Fourth Amendment.

But here's the real problem that we're seeing across this country.

We are making it difficult for these brave Ice officers who are making sure that they are enforcing federal law across this country and getting criminal, illegal immigrants out of this nation, specifically ones who have been convicted of sex offenses.

And that's what the left and radical leftists like Shawn Harris are trying to do, are trying to make sure that they are keeping illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in this community.

Keep in mind that the greatest killer, 18-40 in the nation right now is the fentanyl crisis.

That is what Ice agents are making sure that they're getting rid of are the criminal, illegal immigrants who are trafficking in the poison that are killing Americans by a greater cause than any other cause in this nation.

So what the Ice agents are doing is heroic, and they're making sure that they're enforcing federal law.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for that answer.

Now for our next round, the candidates will question each other.

Candidates.

You will each have 20s to ask your question.

Your opponent will have 60s to respond, and the person asking the question will receive a 32nd rebuttal.

Mr.

Fuller, please ask a question of your opponent.

Mr.

Harris.

The mighty 14th district has overwhelmingly opposed the failed policies of the radical left.

I'd like you to take an opportunity to explain to the voters of Georgia, 14, how you justify voting for Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

That is a easy question because it's very true.

Everything that Donald Trump actually told us that he was not going to do, he's doing it today.

He said he would never get us into any more forever wars.

We're currently in a forever war.

He actually came down to Rome, Georgia, when he was endorsing you and actually said that he had fixed our economy.

I don't think he can find anybody in our district that says the economy is fixed, because right now they're paying more than $4 a gallon for fuel.

And on top of all of that.

This is not about me and President or Vice President Harris.

This is a choice between you and I. And the reality of it is I can stand on my own two feet.

I can stand up for the people.

The question is, can you do the same?

And I can I can tell you the answer to that.

You can't, because the reality of it is, if you say anything negative about Donald Trump and don't stand with him, you would get a phone call.

What I can say is Donald Trump did an outstanding job of shutting down the border, and that's where I should be right now.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Harris.

And Mr.

Fuller, you have a 32nd rebuttal.

Again, I will always fight for the people of Northwest Georgia.

The fact of the matter is the left's policies and the Biden administration was a terrible outcome for the voters of Georgia.

14 that's why Mr.

Harris can't explain that choice of a vote in 2024.

And supporting Kamala Harris.

Here's here's the fact of the matter.

Shawn Harris just like in 2024, is for they them I am for you.

I'm always going to be fighting for our community because that's been my entire career, fighting in our courtrooms and taking the most violent criminals off the streets and putting them in jail.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller Shawn Harris.

Now it is your turn to ask a question.

Yes.

Like I said earlier, Donald Trump, I support him.

When it came to shutting down the border.

He did an awesome job.

But just the other day, Clay, you and I were on a radio show as his name was Shirley Shirley Winters.

And he asked you a very simple question.

He said, where do you differ with Donald Trump and you struggle with that?

So can you tell us all what is the one policy that you will stand against Donald Trump and not sell out the people of northwest Georgia?

I'm going to attack the premise of the question, the policies of President Trump are working for the people of Georgia.

14 again, he inherited the worst economic inflationary crisis than any president of the last 50 years.

Over the last year, he has ensured to me he has made core inflation at the best rate since 2025.

He is putting since 2021, he's making sure that there is more money more of your money coming back to your pocket.

That's what President Trump has been fighting for.

He's making sure that more manufacturing jobs are coming back to Georgia.

14 so it's a false premise to say anything.

But President Trump's policies have fixed the train wreck that he supported 2021-2024, and then voted again by supporting Kamala Harris.

President Trump has been fixing all the problems.

And the other thing that I'll say is the fentanyl crisis specifically, once I saw that border locked down, I was having overdoses in my judicial circuit each and every day.

President Trump's policies and have quite literally saved lives in my district and across the country.

Thank you very much for that, Mr.

Fuller.

Mr.

Harris, you now have a 32nd rebuttal.

Thank you for that, because apparently, Clay, you hadn't been actually talking to the people in our district because you have they would tell you point blank, things are not working for hardworking everyday people.

They can't buy groceries for their families.

They can't afford fuel.

And all of our farmers are struggling.

So I don't understand, how can you just basically answer the question, what policy do you disagree with President Trump?

What I can tell you is Shawn Harris as a Democrat, and I'm not tied to a party.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Harris friends, you are watching the runoff debate for Congressional District 14 special election.

We're now going to go back to the panel to ask questions of the candidates of their choice until we run out of time.

Josh Roe, you get to ask a question next.

All right.

It's for Clay Fuller.

You're on a podcast in January called the Pop Culture Contrarian Podcast.

And you said this the biggest thing I want to make sure from a policy standpoint is that we don't send my 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son off to another conflict in the Pacific.

If we get our policies wrong related to the Communist Party of China, you have supported the war in Iran, which is going to cost billions of dollars to deplete military resources and much more.

How do those policies align?

How can you support the Iran war and still do your biggest thing that you mentioned?

Happy to explain it.

So our country is safer because of what President Trump has done regarding Iran.

You see that with just the news over the last couple of days, Iran fired a ballistic missile aimed at Diego Garcia, where they are stationed.

This was a regime since 1979 who has killed thousands in maimed thousands of Americans.

It chants Death to America.

It is a death cult that could not be negotiated with.

The reason that this makes it more likely and is America First.

This actually means long term.

From a strategic standpoint, we can offload the counterterrorism problems that we've been dealing with in the Middle East since 2001 to Israel, our partner, who is doing an incredible job solving our counterterrorism problems in the nation.

And that means we can pivot back to making sure that my 15-year-old daughter now and 9-year-old son aren't going to head into a war in the Pacific, because the number one threat are Near-peer threat is the Communist Party of China, and there's room for both of us to exist in this world.

But if we don't get our national security policy wrong, there's the high likelihood of a conflict in the Pacific.

And I'm trying to avoid that.

And the Iran war supports that.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller Sarah Kallis, it's now your turn to ask a question.

Mr.

Harris.

President Trump said that Ice agents will begin staffing airports on Monday.

Do you support this policy?

You know, when I heard that I was passing through the airport yesterday and it blew my mind that the president would even say something like that, I.S.I.S.

Is not trained to actually be inside of our airports.

Why would we make a problem that's already a problem.

Even bigger.

The reality of it is Ice needs to go back to the border, actually needs to follow the rules that they actually are supposed to be following with their core mission.

The reality of it is this what we need to do as Democrats and Republicans, we need to reach across the aisle, get this figured out, and make sure that we can pay everybody across the board.

The reality of it is, if Clay or I go to DC, what I can tell you when I go, I'm going to be the one that reaches across the aisle and get things done, because hard working people in Georgia should not be struggling because Democrats and Republicans can't get things done.

So that's where I'm at.

The president should not put ice in the airports.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Harris.

I'm going to offer Mr.

Fuller an opportunity to respond to that.

Should the Ice agents be in the airport starting tomorrow?

Well, the thing that I say is, and this wasn't mentioned by Mr.

Harris, this is a Democrat shutdown.

This is why this is necessary because of a decision by Chuck Schumer who is trying to hold on by dear life to the minority leader position.

This is a this is clearly the Democrat Party and Mr.

Harris putting illegal immigrants first and Americans last.

And you're seeing that in the lines at the Atlanta airport.

And this is a clear image that was shown during the state of the Union address by President Trump.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller.

Josh, I'm going to come back to you now.

Yep.

Let's go to Shawn Harris again here.

You were on an interview with Newsmax recently.

And at the end of the interview, they asked you about two policy positions, two key pieces of legislation.

One was the Save America Act, one was the DHS funding.

And you wouldn't give an answer of your position on those those those policy measures there?

I would say that if you're asking somebody to vote for you, they deserve to know where you stand on key policy.

Yes.

What's your position on the Safe.

Act?

On the Save act?

Bottom line, the Save act is the Save act is something that's being created where I, when I'm getting to DC, the first thing I'm going to do is vote to actually continue to do things that we're doing today here in Georgia.

We basically have an election every Tuesday somewhere in this state.

And the reality of it is we show our driver's license and that's fine.

The current Save act that's being pushed and that's being debated right now is not going to pass because Republicans and Democrats are just doing this to make Donald Trump feel good.

Where I stand.

Is this stop trying to create a problem.

That's not a problem, because I want to make sure that women that have got married don't have to go out and get additional paperwork to actually go and vote.

We should make things easier for people here in Georgia to vote versus putting up more barriers.

Thank you very much, Sarah.

It's your turn.

Mr.

Fuller.

Should states be allowed to regulate A.I., or is that the role of the federal government?

I'm sorry, I don't the camera didn't come on there.

So just so you understand, I'm a Trump conservative from an economic standpoint.

And that means that we want the private market to be able to ensure that any new emerging technology or industry.

I don't want state or federal regulation.

I want the private industry to determine what is best and what is needed from a 30,000 foot view government getting involved with anything makes makes industries worse and makes Americans lives worse.

So I want to make sure that we are getting regulation.

The federal government and local government out of the way.

So the the emerging technology like A.I.

Can be solved by the private market.

Mr.

Harris, let me give you a 32nd rebuttal on that.

Where is where do you stand on A.I.

And the federal government?

Yes, it's very clear that the federal government needs to get involved to help put the guardrails on the on A.I., because right now A.I.

Is completely out of control.

And what I don't understand is Clay would just give us that answer.

The reality of it is we need somebody that's going to go to DC with a backbone.

We need somebody that's going to stand up.

We need somebody that's going to fight for people here in Georgia.

And reality of it is we need somebody that's going to stand up and say, we got to get this A.I.

Thing together, because if not, we're going to have major problems here throughout Georgia and throughout the United States.

Thank you, Mr.

Harris.

Josh, you get the next question.

Go to Clay Fuller here.

You posted on Facebook March ninth, 13 days ago in a video and where you say we're going to deport every illegal.

That was the last time you said anything near that strong on deportation.

Since then, March 19th, Wall Street Journal headline Trump told Inner Circle some mass deportation policies went too far, where they say the president has become convinced, quote, voters don't like the term mass deportation.

Have you changed your position on deportation?

No.

My position is to make sure that federal law is enforced right now, federal law says that there's a process for you to come into this country.

So I am always for federal law being enforced and local law being enforced, because what you are seeing across the nation, and this is what has happened during the Trump administration by enforcing federal law, getting rid of illegal immigrants.

And just so you know, there's a story coming out of Virginia where there's a 19-year-old student in a school there who is sexually assaulting 13-year-old girls in that school, and the left and the Democrats are protecting that child.

That is what ice is getting rid of, and they should be spending their time to make sure they're getting those individuals out of the country because it is making it safer.

And that is why you've seen the greatest reduction in the murder rate in this country, in our nation's history.

It's because we're finally enforcing federal law and getting rid of the illegal immigrants who are committing crimes in this country.

Mr.

I'm going to give you a 32nd rebuttal on that.

Thank you.

I love the way Clay tries to frame me, frame me as a radical left.

I don't even know what that is, because the reality of it is, I like I said, I'm a Democrat, I'm a dirt road Democrat, I'm a common sense Democrat.

And my focus is the people here in northwest Georgia.

So all of that stuff you get from those guys in New York City to try to frame me, none of it's going to work.

And Clay I go on and tell you, you know, if you want to talk to me about guns I carry.

And the reality of it is I am never, ever coming for anybody's guns.

But I will hold you accountable if you shoot up a school.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Harris.

Sarah, it's your turn.

Mr.

Harris cost of living has been a priority issue for many voters.

What actions would you support Congress doing to address affordability?

Yeah, the reality of it is and thank you for that question.

The reality of it is, is cost of living is the number one issue here in the United States.

And it's the number one issue here in Georgia.

What I would do when I get to Congress is work across the aisle to find the right solutions to bring those costs down.

In addition to that, we should make sure that we bring in generational jobs to northwest Georgia, because right now we have jobs, but people are working 2-3 jobs just to try to make ends meet.

And then lastly, I got to make sure that I can take care of our farmers because right now our farmers are losing it as we speak.

53 farmers per day are filing bankruptcy throughout the United States.

And some of that is happening inside of our district.

So in order to make all these things work, we need somebody that when they go to DC, you, I can negotiate.

My friend has already sold his soul.

He can't do anything.

He would not be invited in the rooms.

So that's how I'm going to make sure that we actually get the things that we need here in Northwest Georgia.

Mr.

Fuller, I'd like to ask you, what proposals do you have in mind to take care of the farmers in your district in northwest Georgia?

Yeah, well, one of the the major things that has already been done and the big, beautiful bill is making sure that we can transfer through limiting the the estate tax related to, to farmers.

And so the big, beautiful bill has certainly helped farmers in that regard.

And regarding making sure that we can get, when we talk about agricultural policies, we want to ensure that the market is not being impacted by and this is where President Trump is using the tariffs as an effective tool to make sure that it's protecting the farmers.

And, and in this country by making not allowing foreign meat products to come into our, our markets and supporting the farmers in that way.

So, and one of the things that I argue for is making sure that we, we take.

And this would be a long term bill that I would work on is making sure that we're taking capital gains tax off of Main Street investments.

And those would be investments that could be used to help farmers reinvest in their own farms.

And that's a long term policy that I'd like to see put in place.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller.

And that is all the time that we have for questions.

Each candidate now will have 45 seconds to make a closing statement.

Shawn Harris, we will start with you.

Well, first thing I want to say is thank you for giving us the time tonight.

The other thing I would say is this.

You had the opportunity to look at Clay and I, both of us are fighting hard to represent you here in northwest Georgia.

The reality of it is, is I'm the only candidate that can tell you point blank that I'm going to fight directly for you, your kids, your grandkids, nobody else.

I can also tell you, when I get to DC, you can be able to hold me responsible because I did not sell my soul.

Clay is Mr.

Irrelevant when he gets there to DC because he's already sold his soul to Trump.

He's not going to get a meeting.

The speaker of the House is not going to talk to him.

Shawn Harris goes to DC.

They're going to say, wait a minute, we need to talk to this Democrat, because he could be the difference maker.

And that's what Northwest Georgia wants to be.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Harrison.

And Mr.

Fuller, you now have 45 seconds for a closing statement.

After today.

I think the choice for the voters in northwest Georgia is clear.

On the one hand, you have a radical Democrat.

He says he can't even define it.

When Pete Buttigieg was down here in Rome, Georgia, campaigning with him, he could have asked him what the definition is.

He knows exactly what it is.

The entire time he's been running, he's had the mask on.

On not being not defining himself as a radical leftist.

But he says it.

He's going to support Biden's policies.

He's going to bring our country back to Biden's policies, Obama's policies.

He's going to take your guns, look up the research.

He has quotes specifically on it.

He's going to put illegals first and Americans last, just like we're seeing here with the shutdown.

On the other hand, you have have me Clay Fuller a proud Maga conservative who's going to fight each and every day for the hard working people of northwest Georgia to make sure that they are fought for on Capitol Hill.

And I'll have President Trump's.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Fuller early voting runs March 30 through April 2, and the special election will be held on Tuesday, April 7.

We thank all the candidates and our panel of journalists.

We'd also like to thank the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting for arranging today's debate.

I'm Candace Pressley, thanks for joining us for the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series.