Georgia Republicans Plan to Challenge Fani Willis' Reelection

When an ambitious lawyer named Fani Willis ousted her former boss—longtime Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard—by more than 40 points in a runoff election to become Atlanta's top prosecutor three years ago, the result was stunning but at the same time somewhat expected.

Howard, who had held the seat since his election in 1996, was an institution in Atlanta. The first Black district attorney ever elected in the Peach State, Howard helped aid in the turnaround of a city that once had the distinction of being one of the nation's most violent, and made national headlines for trying legendary NFL linebacker Ray Lewis after he was named a suspect in connection to the stabbing deaths of two men following the Ravens' 2000 Super Bowl win there.

But his later years were troubled, marred by allegations of sexual improprieties, poor management of his office and, later, claims that he used city funds to enrich himself. When the time came, the choice for voters was clear: It was time for change.

As Willis prepares to defend her seat for the first time in 2024 while leading the high-profile prosecution of former President Donald Trump, conservative activists in Fulton County are hoping to build a similar case against her. Not based on political grievance (though that's part of the equation), but on her office's performance.

In March, Georgia State Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs told Georgia lawmakers that the state's court system was being plagued by a COVID-era backlog in its courts that left Fulton County with some 14,000 unindicted felony cases and 4,000 indicted felony cases that had yet to go to trial.

While Willis' office has made progress to reduce that number, according to local media reports, Willis has said that the backlog could take at least a year, if not longer, to rectify amid statewide shortages of staff and resources.

Persistent attacks from the former president—many dishonest—have only helped to exacerbate the issue. While Atlanta is nowhere near the record level of murders he has claimed in posts on his Truth Social platform, the city has suffered from similar crime spikes that have been experienced throughout the U.S, prompting efforts from residents of affluent Atlanta neighborhoods like Buckhead to attempt to secede and form their own police forces.

Some of those same figures are now leading efforts trying to oust Willis, claiming she is using the prosecution of the former president as a campaign device to distract from the issues facing the region's criminal justice system.

Bill White, a pro-Trump activist from the Atlanta area who claims to have donated to Willis' campaign in 2020, told Newsweek that he and a group of local leaders have raised about $280,000 toward a recall effort based around the strategy deployed in a successful recall attempt of progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin last year.

"If San Francisco, which is to the left of left, can recall their D.A., we can do the same in Fulton County," he said this week. "I want murderers prosecuted in this county, not presidents that make perfect phone calls."

Willis' office did not respond to numerous requests for comment from Newsweek.

But a campaign of conservative grievance—particularly in a county no Republican candidate for president has carried since 1972—is likely not a winning strategy, nor is a challenge from the right.

White has acknowledged that reality as well. In his interview, White claimed to have already spoken to several people he claims are considering running against Willis, including a handful of Democrats who believe the city's crime rates have become untenable. (Crime in Atlanta is actually down currently, according to a story by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year.)

"They really just want to bring crime under control," White said. "And they're not all Republicans. I don't think you win by trying to run a Trump candidate. That's the dumbest thing you can do here. The person who runs against her will not lose because she outspent them."

But if a challenger does emerge, they'll have to do so without institutional support.

"We did not participate in working with a Democrat to primary another Democrat. That's not what we do," Brian Pritchard, first vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party, told Newsweek. "If the Democratic Party chooses the primary Fani Willis, that would be up to them. The Republican Party does not participate in trying to find primary candidates in their own party."

Republicans, however, feel they might be able to corner Willis with a challenger of their own. Recent viral video promoted by conservative groups showed Black Atlantans who statistically have traditionally voted Democrat cheering on Trump's motorcade as it traveled through their neighborhood on his way to court last month.

Supporters have also cited the words of Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd, a leader of a Black-led pro-Trump group who was the lone figure of the 18 co-defendants in the case who was required to spend time in Fulton County Jail for his role in alleged attempts to subvert the result of the 2020 election. He later called the episode a "negro wake-up call," saying she (Willis) "reminded me that our country and the state of Georgia will not be able to be a righteous nation if we stand on pillars of corruption, racism, lying and cheating."

Pritchard claims episodes like those are a sign that the tides are shifting.

"Even in races like Fani Willis and Fulton County, where Fulton County is a Democrat-leaning county, the Georgia Republican Party feels that things are shifting," Pritchard said. "The winds of change, the winds of change are about us. And we will be excited as the Georgia Republican Party to support a Republican to challenge Fani Willis, and we are aggressively looking for that Republican now.

"As I always say, take Donald Trump's name out of it. This is about what many people consider to be politically motivated against someone's political opponent. And it's very concerning, not just in Fulton County, all across this country."

But that will also take a unified front of Republicans in a state where the party has failed to win a national race since 2018. And not all are sold. A recent effort by hardline Republicans in the Georgia statehouse to attempt to defund Willis' office or, potentially, remove her from her seat for allegedly overstepping the bounds of her authority to prosecute Trump was met with rebuke by Georgia legislative leadership and Governor Brian Kemp, who said the effort was "not feasible and may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional."

"In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment," Kemp said in a statement. "We will do what is right. We will uphold our oaths as public servants, and it's my belief that our state will be better off for it."

But more mainstream Republicans may find themselves directly facing some within the party who see removing Willis as imperative.

"There's been folks that have actually died in the Fulton County Jail who were accused of a misdemeanor, and they've been in jail for months without going to trial," Debbie Dooley, a high-profile conservative activist in the state and a founding member of the national Tea Party movement who is assisting in efforts to oust Willis from office, told Newsweek. "And that's because Fani is focusing on this politically motivated witch hunt. And she wants to criminalize asking questions and investigating election fraud.

"She is doing this to advance her political career. I think that's going to resonate with voters in Fulton County, whether they're Republican or Democrat. It's going to resonate."