Everton Blair wins Georgia special election for House seat

Everton Blair, a former Gwinnett County School Board chairman, has won the special election to serve the remaining months of the late Rep. David Scott’s term in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, defeating Scott’s daughter in a runoff.

NBC News projected Blair’s victory Tuesday, and The Associated Press also projected the race for Blair, according to CBS News. With most of the expected vote counted, Blair led Marcye Scott 53% to 47%, NBC News reported.

The result marked an upset after Blair trailed Scott in the first round of voting last month. In the July nonpartisan special election, Scott led the five-candidate field with 46% of the vote, while Blair finished second with 38%. Because no candidate won a majority, the two advanced to Tuesday’s runoff.

Blair will serve only a short time in Washington. The term ends in January, and he did not win the Democratic nomination for the full two-year term. CBS News reported that Blair finished third in the May 19 Democratic primary for the full term.

In November, voters will decide whether Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Clark or Republican Jonathan Chavez will represent the district for the next full term beginning in January. NBC News reported that Clark, who did not run in the special election, won the regularly scheduled primary and is the heavy favorite in the deep-blue Atlanta-area district.

The 13th District has typically favored Democrats by wide margins. David Scott won reelection in 2024 with about 72% of the vote, and then-Vice President Kamala Harris received about 71% of the vote in the district, CBS News reported.

David Scott died April 22 at age 80 after more than two decades in Congress. He had served as the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Marcye Scott framed her campaign as a continuation of her father’s work, saying she would “ensure the work already underway” advocating for the district continued.

Blair ran on a platform that included several progressive policies. NBC News reported that he supported a tax on households making more than $50 million, “Medicare for All,” universal child care and large federal investments in clean energy associated with the Green New Deal push.

Scott had sought to become the second daughter in recent memory to succeed her late father in Congress. NBC News noted that Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva won a special election last year for the seat previously held by her father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, and is running again this fall for a full two-year term.

Once Blair and Democrat Aisha Wahab, who won a special election last week to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell in California, are sworn in, Republicans’ House majority will stand at 218-214, with one independent and two vacancies, according to NBC News.