Six candidates seek to fill late Rep. David Scott’s Georgia seat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Six candidates in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District will compete in a special election on Tuesday to replace the late Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott, who died in April.

The contest in the heavily Democratic district could have an immediate impact on the balance of power in the U.S. House, where Republicans cling to a thin majority.

Under Georgia law, the four Democrats and two Republicans running to succeed Scott will appear on the same ballot, and any of them could secure the seat outright by winning a majority of the special election vote. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters regardless of party will advance to an Aug. 25 special runoff election.

The winner will serve out the remaining few months of Scott’s current term.

Among the Democrats vying for the seat are former Gwinnett County School Board Chair Everton Blair and Marcye Scott, daughter of the late congressman. Democrats Tony Brown and Carlos Moore and Republicans Caesar Gonzales and Fayth Park are also on the ballot.

Blair is the only candidate in the field who also ran for the full-term seat set to begin in January 2027. He placed third in the May 19 Democratic primary with about 12% of the vote. State Rep. Jasmine Clark won the primary with 56% of the vote and will face Republican Jonathan Chavez in November. Chavez, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination, challenged David Scott in the 2024 general election and received about 28% of the vote.

Clark did not file to compete in the special election. Doing so would have required her to resign from her seat in the state Legislature just as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp was calling for a special session to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries in time for the 2028 elections. The state constitution bars state officeholders from seeking a different office with a start date more than 30 days before the end of the officeholder’s current term. The special session did convene, but Republican leaders opted not to take up redistricting.

In recent years, Congressman Scott had faced questions over his age and health. At the time of his death at age 80, he was facing a tough primary challenge from Clark and others as he sought a 13th term.

Georgia’s 13th Congressional District is east and southeast of Atlanta and includes parts of six heavily Democratic counties: Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton and Rockdale. Of the six, the district’s portion of Gwinnett County has the lion’s share of voters, about 46% of the district electorate in the 2024 general election. The district includes only a small sliver of DeKalb County, which plays a much bigger role in the 4th and 5th Congressional Districts.

Scott won his 2024 reelection bid with about 72% of the vote. That night, Democratic then-Vice President Kamala Harris received about 71% in the district, compared with about 28% for Republican Donald Trump, in the presidential election. Trump had his best performance in the district in Gwinnett County, although that still only amounted to about 35% of the vote.