‘Republicans come up to me every day with tears in their eyes’: Why Marcus Flowers insists he can defeat Marjorie Taylor Greene

Military veteran tells Andrew Buncombe why he could be the first Democrat to represent Georgia’s 14th congressional district in 30 years

Even Marcus Flowers’s supporters acknowledge scale of his challenge (Shutterstock/Reuters/The Independent)

Marcus Flowers has raised $15m – more money than any congressional candidate in the country – for his Georgia battle.

Even with all that money, his supporters admit he would be pulling off something approaching an electoral miracle if he was to was able to defeat incumbent populist Marjorie Taylor Greene.

However, long shot Flowers claims he can make history, insisting the Trump-backed, Maga-breathing Greene is too extreme for the district, and that people repeatedly tell him so.

He says every day people will approach him, often in tears, and thank him for trying to beat her. He says people – oftentimes people of colour or members of the LGBTQ+ community – say they feel threatened and marginalised by her words and positions.

“It’s not hyperbole. It happens every day, literally every day,” Flowers tells The Independent.

“This is what I’m seeing, as someone who’s travelled every corner of this district, talked to people of all different backgrounds, that’s the message. ‘Thank you. God bless you for running’.”

He adds: “They say how they’re embarrassed by her, how people feel attacked, and they’re exhausted with it. They want a real representative, someone who’s going to work for them.”

Flowers, 47, who spent more than a decade in the US army, must recognise that for him to win would represent one of the greatest David beats Goliath political wins ever.

Georgia’s 14th congressional district is considered the 10th most Republican in the country. Only created in 2011 after a census awarded the state an additional seat in the House of Representatives, the website Five Thirty Eight ranks the 14th as a “R plus 45”, meaning Republicans start with a 45 point lead.

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The shift towards this part of northwest Georgia becoming more conservative has been happening for a long time. Indeed, the last time Democrat to represent the city of Rome was George “Buddy” Darden, who was a member of Congress when it was part of the old 11th district.

Darden served six terms but lost a re-election bid in 1994.

In essence, it has been Republican territory for three decades.

Another challenge for Flowers, who is African-American, is to overcome the racism that has often been on display in the campaign for these midterms.

How can Flowers hope to win?

“I’m not a pundit. And I don’t want to speculate on that, for me it is simply about having a conversation with my neighbours here in northwest Georgia,” he says.

“And we’re talking about the issues that we’re facing here. I understand that everyone sees my campaign as having an outsized social media voice campaign. [But] we get out, we talk to our neighbours, over 70,000 doors knocked on in this district and the response has been overwhelming. We’re getting support from all corners.”

He says the real connections are made not on social media, but in person-to-person encounters, usually knocking on doors.

“When I knock on the door and I ask ‘Are you planning on voting’ I’ve had had several people say ‘No, I’m not going to vote in this one, it doesn’t matter,’” he says.

“And then we have a conversation and by the end of that conversation they’re voting. Knocking on doors, communicating with our neighbours on all different platforms, is what this is about. This is what we’re doing.”

Flowers does indeed have a sizeable social media following. On Twitter he has 445,000 followers. It is considerably less than Greene’s 1.2m, but compared to other challengers – rather than incumbent candidates who are constantly on Fox News – it is huge.

Another area where Flowers has a lot of support is financially. Records show he has raised upwards of $15m, more even than Greene’s $12m. The battle for the 14th will be most expensive House race in the nation.

During their one debate, Greene, 48, a former businesswoman who once dabbled in QAnon conspiracies and has repeated Trump’s falsehoods about the 2020 election, mocked Flowers, and said the majority of his donations had come from outside of the district, and even the state.

“If you’re a California Democrat sending money to Marcus Flowers, he’s paying himself to run for Congress and pretend that he can beat me in a blood red Republican district,” said Greene.

“None of his Democratic defund-the police, America-last policies represent our district and I do.”

What does Flowers say to those who question the ethics of asking people to donate to a campaign in which he is such a long shot, rather than a more obviously winnable contest?

“That sounds like a defeatist mentality,” he says, a little sharply.

“That is not what I’m concerning myself. I’m concerning myself with having that conversation with the of people of Georgia’s 14th congressional district.”

He adds: “I was a soldier and taught to concede no ground. I’m not taking one step back. I don’t write any of my neighbours off. So at the end of the day, people will have a choice.”

During the debate with Greene, The Independent sat with Flowers’ supporters at a watch party in his city centre offices. (Greene’s campaign did not have a watch party.)

Several were impressed by his ability to get his message out and not be sidetracked by some of Greene’s attacks.

“I think he did well – I hope he helped people see through Marjorie, at least reasonable people,” said Sam Malone, 72. “He’s got a great background. And he’s a straightforward guy. She is always attacking people.”

He added: “She’s not representative of Georgia.”

On the street outside Flowers’ office, located on Broad St, Marilyn Jones said she would be voting Democrat across the ticket – Stacey Abrams for governor, Raphael Warnock for senator, and Flowers for Congress.

“He’s a family man,” she said of Flowers, saying she hoped he could overcome the odds.

In the debate, Flowers was able to land several good lines at Greene’s feet during the 30-minute encounter. He was asked by the moderator what proof he had that people were ready for change, given more people had voted for Greene during the last election than all the other candidates combined?

“It’s not an anecdote that not everyone votes in a primary in a midterm. That’s not anecdotal. In the last election cycle, more than 75,000 people voted against Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he said.

He added: “We’ve brought people in from every corner of the district – newly-registered people. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Republican, independent or Democrat, I’ve talked to everybody and everybody that I’ve talked to – Republicans come up to me every day with tears in their eyes – saying, please get rid of Marjorie Taylor Greene She doesn’t represent us.”

Given Democrats have not held Rome since the mid 1990s, if Flowers wins here and is sent to Washington DC, what would that represent?

“It represents people understanding that they have a choice between right versus wrong. Chaos versus stability,” he tells The Independent.

“It’s not about politics. It’s simply walls down to that – it’s about right versus wrong. And I’m trusting the people of Georgia’s 14th district to make that decision.”