Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rival reveals path to take her down

Shawn Harris, the 40-year military veteran who is hoping to unseat U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, in November’s election, has told Newsweek he believes he can achieve victory based on a coalition that incorporates moderate Republicans and women voters.

Harris has been selected as the Democratic Party candidate for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, a traditionally conservative area in which Greene won comfortably in the 2022 midterm election. However speaking to Newsweek, Harris argued that Greene’s antics in Congress, which included an unsuccessful attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, earlier this year, are going down badly in her district and make a shock outcome in November possible.

Since being elected in November 2020, Greene, who Harris termed “my greatest asset” in terms of raising donations, has established a reputation as one of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump‘s most vocal supporters in Congress. She has referred to Trump supporters arrested over their involvement in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot as “political prisoners” and suggested there should be a “national divorce” in America between Republican and Democratic-dominated states.

Harris, who won a Democratic primary runoff for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District in June, told Newsweek in a phone interview earlier this week that Greene’s behavior means the traditionally conservative seat could be in play come November.

“More and more Democrats obviously, but specifically more and more Republicans are starting to say more openly that they are now tired of Marjorie Taylor Greene and are looking for something different. That is the way we’re going to win,” he said. “But it’s not just going to be Republicans. It’s also going to be women because Marjorie Taylor Greene, she is in a fight with women and I believe women are going to come out in great numbers.”

Referring to moderate Republicans, Harris added: “They may say as a Republican ‘I just can’t vote for a Democrat.’ No problem, but guess what they’re going to do? They’re going to skip the line. They’re not going to vote for me and they’re not going to vote for Marjorie Taylor Greene and that’s when you’re going to start seeing those numbers actually change over.”

In appealing to female voters, Harris emphasized his support for Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022 in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, saying abortion is “a decision to make between a woman and her doctor and her family.”

After Roe was overturned, Greene celebrated the Court’s decision on social media, calling it a “miracle.” In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, she said at the time, “I think it’s a miracle. I’m so thrilled, like I’ve cried about this. Everybody here is celebrating that the Supreme Court had the courage, they had the bravery, overturning Roe v. Wade, giving it back to the states.”

He also claimed Greene has failed to attract high paying jobs to the district for educated women.

“During COVID-19, many women took the time to get their college degree online. However from an economic point of view Marjorie has not worked to bring any major jobs here,” Harris said.

Harris served in the military for 40 years and recently retired as an Army Brigadier General to run a cattle farm in Rockmart, Georgia. During his time with the military, Harris saw combat in Afghanistan, was part of a U.S. team sent to Liberia to help combat the Ebola outbreak and also served in Kosovo and Israel, his last posting.

Harris also argued that whilst Greene’s antics helped her acquire media attention, she has failed to deliver anything positive for her district.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene is spending all her time creating chaos up there [in Washington D.C.] and after three-and-a-half years she has not brought back one major thing here to this district and that’s what a representative should be doing…,” Harris said. “After three- and-a-half years Marjorie, if you look at her record, she really did nothing. She does a lot of talking, she brings a lot of chaos, she’s in a civil war with the Republican Party at the state level and also at the national level, and that’s just not who we are here in northwest Georgia.”

Harris also said Greene has been undermining the Democratic values he spent his life promoting in the military, in particular over her attitude toward the U.S. Capitol riot when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in a bid to stop Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory from being certified.

Referring to the country, Harris said: “We are the beacon that people look at from all around the world and that’s what I’ve been doing for many years in the military is being that United States representative from a military point of view that says, ‘Look, you got to think about your democracy, you got to think about your people, you got to believe in the rule of law.'”

He continued: “Now Marjorie Taylor Greene is a threat to all of that. One, she still says today that January 6 was not a bad thing. She still says that the individuals that went and broke into our Capitol did not do anything wrong. She still says that the individuals that were tried by our justice system, by their peers, didn’t do anything wrong.”

Newsweek has contacted Representative Greene for comment outside of usual business hours by email.

As part of the 118th Congress, the GOP congresswoman serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, House Committee on Homeland Security, and the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The “about” section of Greene’s House webpage states that she “has a lifetime of business experience, having grown up working in her family’s company.”

“In 2002 Marjorie purchased Taylor Commercial, a commercial construction and renovation company. The company has since managed a quarter of a billion dollars of construction projects. Marjorie successfully started, grew, and sold a thriving CrossFit gym here in Georgia which has become one of the top CrossFit gyms in the country. Marjorie has a unique perspective on how to succeed from the ground up, through true hard work and financial responsibility…”

It added: “Marjorie has a strong Christian faith and believes we must continue to protect our great freedoms and work to keep America a great country for our generations to come.”

Meanwhile, a number of Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race following his lackluster debate performance when he faced off against Trump last month. Biden appeared to lose his train of thought at several points during the debate, with a Biden aide previously telling Newsweek that the president was battling a cold. Biden has said he is not stepping aside and will continue to run for reelection.

Harris, who met Biden when he visited Israel, stood by the president and said he is fit to serve a second term.

“I actually know Joe Biden, I know the president, the president had a bad night that night. Yes he did, period. He admitted he had a bad night, he also said he knows how to get back up and stay in the fight and that is the president that I support, that I know and that I know is going to win the election for us,” he said.