Democrat launches campaign to unseat Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has her first public Democratic challenger after Holly McCormack announced her plans this week to challenge the conspiracy theorist for her seat in the heavily GOP district in Georgia.

Several other Democrats have filed to run in 2022, Federal Election Commission records show, but McCormack, a 36-year-old insurance agent, is the first known candidate to publicly launch a campaign, said Maggie Chambers, the Georgia Democratic Party’s communications director.

“The official candidate qualifying period is not until early 2022. McCormack’s candidacy is the only one we know of to have launched publicly, but other candidates have filed with the FEC,” Chambers told CNN.

The race will likely be closely watched, as Greene has faced sharp criticism for indicating support for political violence and pushing wild conspiracy theories before she was elected to Congress. But Democrats are facing a daunting task in winning in Georgia’s solidly red 14th District, where Greene won with nearly 75% of the vote in 2020.

McCormack says she’s running to set a better example.

“I looked at my kids, I looked at this past year and everything that’s happened in our nation and what’s happening here in Georgia, and I said we can’t wait around. This isn’t the example that I want to set for my kids, and I don’t want them seeing it from people in a position of influence,” McCormack told CNN on Friday.

In response to McCormack’s candidacy, Nick Dyer, a spokesman for Greene, told CNN that the 14th District “issued a mandate on November 3, 2020, by overwhelmingly voting for President Trump and Congresswoman Greene.”

Georgia Democrats are well aware of the uphill battle.

“Any win by Holly would be an upset if she pulls it off, and it would probably be by the smallest of margins but not impossible,” Terrence Clark, the former communications director for Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign and a political operative in the state, told CNN.

If Democrats pull off sky-high voter turnout and the Legislature considers making Greene’s district more competitive when it redraws the state’s lines, McCormack could have a shot, Clark said, but he’s doubtful that even high Democratic turnout could swing the district given its history. Still, he notes the importance of fielding candidates even in tough districts.

Clark also emphasized that Greene has become a Trump-like figure, which could energize Republicans but also drive Democrats to the polls.

But, he said, “I don’t think it happens to the effect where Holly can flip the district just on that alone.”

Abigail Collazo, a Georgia-based Democratic strategist, said McCormack will not be the only Democrat to go up against Greene in 2022, though she, too, acknowledged the challenges.

“This district will be difficult. That said, a number of circumstances can change in the next year and a half, and if there’s anything we’ve learned in the past years it’s that you run qualified candidates everywhere,” Collazo added.

McCormack sought to downplay her identity as a Democrat running in a heavily Republican district and vowed to run a campaign that would have broad appeal.

“I know we can win. I know it,” she said. “I believe the folks in the district are good, hardworking people and they just want a shot at the American dream. I’m not going to portray myself as one side or another. We’re all Americans. And I’m an American first.”