作者:杰夫·泽勒尼,美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)
发布时间:2026年3月10日,美国东部时间上午7:00
唐纳德·特朗普总统对共和党影响力的考验将在周二的乔治亚州西北部自由竞争的补选中再次上演。此次补选旨在填补玛乔丽·泰勒·格林(Marjorie Taylor Greene)1月空出的国会席位——这位特朗普盟友后来转为批评者。
前检察官、空军老兵克莱·富勒(Clay Fuller)在近20名候选人中赢得了特朗普的支持。但上个月特朗普在该选区访问时给予的总统认可,并未显著简化这场异常拥挤的竞选。
特朗普决定介入乔治亚州的竞选(多名自称“MAGA”候选人参选),目的是避免决选并迅速填补席位,为议长迈克·约翰逊(Mike Johnson)在共和党多数席位岌岌可危的众议院中争取更多缓冲空间。
尽管富勒多次表示将成为“国会山特朗普总统的战士”,其他共和党对手也誓言全力支持总统议程。
科尔顿·摩尔(Colton Moore),前州参议员、保守派煽动者,投放广告称自己是竞选中真正的“美国优先”候选人和特朗普忠诚者。他赞扬总统但淡化了特朗普背书的重要性,称:“沼泽资金已针对我们。”
“很多人嘴上大谈保守派立场,但真正要做保守派事务时却踪影全无。”摩尔周一在乔治亚州罗马市WLAQ电台的保守派脱口秀节目中接受采访时表示,“我们需要寻找一位斗士、一位立法者,愿意以真正的活力投入斗争。”
同样竞选格林席位的牧师汤姆·格雷(Tom Gray)表示支持特朗普,但补充道:“我们是独立思考者和决策者。”
吉姆·塔利(Jim Tully),格林前幕僚和资深共和党活动家,也吹嘘对特朗普的钦佩。但他称忠于总统的选民会自行判断这场竞选:“我们从未将此地视为特朗普总统的选区。这个选区属于人民。”
民主党人能否获胜?
14号国会选区覆盖从亚特兰大郊区延伸至田纳西州边界阿巴拉契亚山麓的10个县。
该地区是特朗普的“红宝石州”,但也有足够多的民主党人和独立人士,这让共和党人在补选中忧心忡忡——若无人获得超50%选票,前两名将进入4月决选。
“如果乔治亚14号选区变蓝,对总统议程将是悲剧。”富勒告诉CNN,“我们政党需要开始诚实讨论这个问题。”
2024年输给格林的退役海军陆战队准将肖恩·哈里斯(Shawn Harris)是最令共和党人担忧的民主党候选人。他上一次参选获得近13.5万票——其中一小部分就可能让他进入决选,尽管周二投票率预计低于2024年大选。
哈里斯称共和党曾试图劝他改投民主党,但他反而试图招募温和派或对共和党失望的人支持自己——他甚至表示这些人可能秘密参与。
“投票不是忏悔。”哈里斯在采访中说,“你不必‘认罪’,只需进去做对自己、家人和孙辈最好的事。”
共和党官员认为哈里斯很可能是前两名之一,从而进入4月7日的决选。无论选举结果如何,候选人今年秋天还需再次参选,5月19日将先迎来初选,选举日程令人眼花缭乱。
特朗普与格林(前盟友)的争执在该选区部分选民中引发不安与愤怒。格林虽未直接参与竞选,但持续批评特朗普(最近是针对其打击伊朗的决定)。
考验特朗普背书的效力
目前不确定这些批评是否会让共和党选民对特朗普失望,或降低对其背书的重视。
乔治亚州长期以来是特朗普表现的晴雨表:2016年胜选、2020年败选(成为无根据选举舞弊指控的中心)、2024年再次胜选。
摩尔是特朗普试图推翻2020年选举的核心人物之一,其行为最终导致他被逐出共和党州参议院核心小组。后来他在亚特兰大州议会大厦试图闯入众议院时被捕(此前被共和党领导人禁止进入)。
摩尔称,若当选将加入众议院自由党团,协助“抵制不良立法”。
但这正是国会共和党领袖(尤其是议长约翰逊)的担忧——他们曾劝说特朗普支持富勒而非摩尔或其他候选人。一名高级共和党助手告诉CNN,共和党领袖正在寻找“可靠的投票者,而非另一个煽动者”。
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在特朗普进入执政第二年面临诸多挑战之际,保持其胜选联盟的能力将成为国会争夺的核心,选民将对其第二任期上半年施政做出评判。
乔治亚州目前已出现全美最受关注的参议院竞选、开放的州长竞选以及激烈的州议会竞选,这些都成为对特朗普议程及该州过去一年表现的公投。
在为期两个月的竞选周期中,富勒向选民承诺将“在国会山坚定支持特朗普总统”,不会成为其“眼中钉”(暗指格林)。
“我们必须支持特朗普总统,他是我们时代最伟大的外交政策总统。我会为他而战,这就是他在竞选中支持我的原因。”富勒说。
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/politics/video/ac360mtgzeleny
How the special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene is testing the power of Trump’s endorsement
By Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Published Mar 10, 2026, 7:00 AM ET
President Donald Trump’s sway over the Republican Party faces a fresh test Tuesday with a free-for-all special election in northwest Georgia to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Trump ally-turned-critic who vacated her seat in Congress in January.
Clay Fuller, a former prosecutor and Air Force veteran, won Trump’s endorsement from a field of nearly 20 candidates. But the presidential seal of approval, which Trump delivered last month on a visit to the district, has done little to streamline the remarkably crowded contest.
The president’s decision to weigh in on the Georgia race, which has several self-described MAGA candidates on the ballot, was intended to help avoid a runoff and fill the seat quickly to give Speaker Mike Johnson more cushion in his razor-thin House Republican majority.
While Fuller has repeatedly said he would be “a warrior for President Trump on Capitol Hill,” other GOP rivals have also vowed to fully support the president’s agenda.
Colton Moore, a former state senator and conservative firebrand, has been running ads suggesting he is the true “America First” candidate and Trump loyalist in the race. He praised the president but dismissed the importance of a Trump endorsement, saying: “The swamp money has come in against us.”
[Related video CNN Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district is in disbelief at her resignation announcement 4:05]
“There’s a lot of folks who talk a big conservative game, but when it comes down to doing conservative stuff, they’re nowhere to be found,” Moore said Monday in an interview on a conservative talk radio show on WLAQ, a station in the district based in Rome, Georgia. “We need to find a fighter, a legislator, who’s willing to bring that fight with true vigor.”
Tom Gray, a pastor who is also running to replace Greene, expressed his support for Trump but added: “We’re independent thinkers and decision-makers.”
Jim Tully, a former Greene staffer and longtime Republican activist who is on the ballot, also touted his admiration for Trump. Yet he said voters loyal to the president could draw their own conclusions about the race, saying: “We’ve never talked about this being President Trump’s district. This district belongs to the people.”
Could a Democrat win?
The sprawling 14th Congressional District covers 10 counties stretching from the Atlanta suburbs to the Appalachian foothills along the Tennessee state line.
It’s ruby-red Trump country but with enough Democrats and independents to cause heartburn for Republicans in a special election that sends the top two vote-getters — regardless of party — into an April runoff if no candidate wins over 50%.
“If Georgia 14 turns blue, it would be a tragedy for the president’s agenda,” Fuller told CNN. “We as a party need to start having an honest conversation about that.”
Shawn Harris, a retired Marine brigadier general who lost to Greene in 2024, is the Democratic contender who worries Republicans the most. He received nearly 135,000 votes the last time he was on the ballot — a fraction of which would likely vault him into a runoff — though turnout on Tuesday is expected to be lower than in the 2024 contest.
Harris said Republicans tried to get him to change parties, but instead he is trying to recruit moderates or disillusioned Republicans to his campaign — even, he said, if they come secretly.
“Voting is not church,” Harris said in an interview. “You don’t have to confess. You just have to go in there and do what’s best for you, your family and your grandkids.”
Republican officials believe Harris is likely to be one of the top two finishers to advance to an April 7 runoff. Regardless of the outcome of that election, candidates must run again for the seat this fall, starting with the primary on May 19, in a dizzying series of elections.
The feud between Trump and Greene — a former ally — has created a sense of unease and anger among some voters in the district. Greene has remained on the sidelines of the race but has kept alive her relentless criticism of Trump, most recently on his decision to strike Iran.
Testing a Trump endorsement
It’s an open question whether any of those critiques will cause Republican voters to sour on Trump or to take his endorsement less seriously.
Georgia has long stood as a leading barometer for Trump’s performance. He won the state in 2016. He lost it in 2020, which placed it at the center of unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. He won it again in 2024.
Moore was at the center of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. His actions ultimately led to him being kicked out of the Republican state Senate caucus. He was later arrested at the state Capitol in Atlanta after trying to enter the House chamber, where he had been banned by Republican leaders.
If elected, Moore said, he would join the House Freedom Caucus and help “defend against bad legislation.”
Yet that is precisely what concerns Republican leaders in Congress, particularly the speaker, who helped persuade Trump to endorse Fuller over Moore or other candidates. Republican leaders are searching for a reliable vote, a top GOP aide told CNN, “not another rabblerouser.”
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For all of the challenges facing Trump as he enters his second year back in power, the ability to maintain his winning coalition will be at the center of the fight for Congress as voters give their verdict on the first half of his second term.
One of the most closely watched US Senate races in the nation, a wide-open contest for governor and competitive state legislative races are already shaping up in Georgia as a referendum on Trump’s agenda and how the state has fared over the past year.
In the abbreviated two-month campaign, Fuller pledged to voters that he would “have President Trump’s back” on Capitol Hill and that he would not become a thorn in his side, a not-so-subtle reference to Greene.
“We have to support President Trump,” Fuller said. “He’s the greatest foreign policy president in our time. I’ll fight for him, and that’s why he endorsed me in this race.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/politics/video/ac360mtgzeleny
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