Fani Willis’ Support Reaches New High

Fani Willis on Tuesday won the Democratic primary in Georgia for her Fulton County District Attorney seat, which she has held since 2020. She won with a higher percentage of the votes than in any of her previous primary races.

Willis won with 89 percent of the vote at the time the Associated Press called the race. Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET and the AP called the race shortly before 7:40 p.m. The result came as Willis seeks to continue her election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Willis’ support in the primary was her best showing in a primary election. Willis last ran for election in 2020, when she defeated incumbent Paul Howard in a runoff after he held the seat for more than 20 years.

According to Ballotpedia, in the 2020 Democratic primary, Willis received 42.3 percent of votes, while Howard received 34.8 percent. Christian Wise Smith, who challenged Willis on Tuesday, received 22.9 percent in the 2020 election. Since no candidate received 50 percent of votes, Willis and Howard were sent to a runoff.

In the runoff, Willis received 71.7 percent of votes to Howard’s 28.3 percent. She then ran unopposed in the state’s general election. According to Ballotpedia, there were 173,056 total votes in the primary and 90,266 in the runoff, when Willis won 64,723 to 25,543.

Willis indicted Trump and several other co-defendants for charges relating to the 2020 presidential election results in the state and violations of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and some of his co-defendants have sought to have Willis disqualified from the case over a relationship she had with Nathan Wade, an attorney that was appointed as a special prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

A judge in Georgia allowed Willis to remain on Trump’s case as long as Wade stepped down. However, an appeals court this month agreed to hear Trump’s appeal of the disqualification ruling.

Since indicting Trump, Willis has faced criticism from many Republicans. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress if she did not comply with a subpoena and provide documents relating to her use of federal funds.

Prior to Tuesday’s election, one poll showed Willis holding a commanding lead over Wise Smith. Last month, a poll by WAGA-TV in Atlanta found that 79 percent of Democratic voters sided with Willis compared to just 9 percent for Wise Smith. The poll surveyed 1,000 likely Democratic voters from April 20 to 23, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.