‘This district has changed’
✦ Shawn Harris gears up to battle for GA14 voters vs. Marjorie Taylor Greene
The three weeks between the general primary election and the necessary runoff taught Shawn Harris some things about politics. He now looks to apply those lessons as he prepares to face off with Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in November.
Harris became the Democratic nominee for the 14th Congressional District after defeating Clarence Blalock in last week’s runoff election. He spoke Saturday at the Polk County Democratic Committee monthly forum.
“I’ve learned there are really no rules in politics. You will get a couple of jabs thrown at you, but you have to pick yourself up and move on,” Harris told the group at Soul Whiz Catering in Cedartown.
“I know how to keep cool and stay focused on the things that matter.”
A retired U.S. Army brigadier general, Harris runs a grass-fed cattle farm in Rockmart with his wife, a family doctor. He won the nomination over Blalock last Tuesday with just under 69% of the votes cast, according to unofficial results from the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
He now steps into a race where the Republican candidate has won since the district was created in 2013 and voters have overwhelmingly supported the Republican candidate for president and governor in that time.
Harris said he understands what the perception of the 14th district is when it comes to its political make-up.
“But this district has changed,” Harris said, referring to the most recent redistricting that saw all of Paulding County and a third of Cobb County be brought into the district. “Leaders understand how to follow first. And representatives listen to the people they represent. I want to be the representative for everybody in Northwest Georgia.”
With the nomination under his belt, Harris now turns to the fundraising that will be necessary to get his message out for the November vote. He raised over $435,000 in his campaign but his battle against, initially, four other candidates, whittled his balance down to $102,593 as of the end of May, according to his filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Greene, on the other hand, was unchallenged in the May 21 primary and has been one of the GOP’S most prolific fundraisers. She’s raised $5.3 million this cycle and spent $6 million but still had $1.2 million in her campaign chest as of May 1, according to her FEC reports.