Marcye Scott, daughter of the late Congressman David Scott, and Everton Blair Jr., former Gwinnett County school board chair, advanced to a special election runoff on Tuesday, July 29, 2026, for Georgia's 13th Congressional District seat.
Neither candidate secured the 50% majority required to win outright, according to the Associated Press, which called the race around 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time with 85% of votes counted. Scott received 47.5% of the vote, while Blair garnered 36.1%. Republican Caesar Gonzales trailed in third place with 8.5%.
The runoff, scheduled for Tuesday, August 25, 2026, will determine who serves the final weeks of the late Congressman Scott's term before the winner of November's regular election takes office for a full term starting in January.
Six candidates appeared on the ballot, but Democrat Tony Brown was disqualified after the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office reported that his qualifying fee check bounced, and votes cast for him will not count.
Following her father's death in April at age 80, Marcye Scott said, "Right after my dad passed, a lot of the City Council or the commissioners and chair people, they wanted to know what was going to happen with these projects," according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. She added, "And that’s really why I’m running: to complete that."
Everton Blair Jr. has a background in education, holding a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard University, as well as a master's degree in policy, organization, and leadership from Stanford University, according to his campaign website.
David Scott was the incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and had carried the district with approximately 72% of the vote in 2024. The 13th District includes parts of Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton, and all of Rockdale counties in metro Atlanta.
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