President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in the race to replace Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is shouldering past political donations and associations that could come back to haunt him.
Federal Elections Commission records show that Clayton Fuller’s first-ever political donation went to a Democrat in 2017.
Fuller, a District Attorney employed by the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, gave $250 to the US Senate campaign of James Mackler, a former Democratic candidate for the US Senate.
Mackler, a lawyer and US Army Veteran ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Tennessee in both 2018 and 2020.
Mackler also rallied with anti-gun group Giffords in 2020 as part of their ‘Road to Universal Background Checks Tour’, when he was featured as a ‘gun safety champion’ and ‘key member of the national movement to flip the Senate.’
The priorities page on Fuller’s campaign website does not mention guns, firearms, or the Second Amendment. The National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund has given Fuller an AQ rating, given to candidates with no voting record who fill out the NRA’s candidate survey in the affirmative.
Fuller’s current 2026 run is also not his first quest for political office.
Clay Fuller, Trump’s endorsed candidate to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene
Clay Fuller’s campaign website boldly touts his Trump endorsement
Marjorie Taylor Greene outside of the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday, September 9, 2025
President Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One on February 16, 2026
In 2020, he also ran for the US House of Representatives when he was endorsed by the With Honor Fund, a group that bills itself as bipartisan or even cross-partisan and focuses on electing military veterans to end political polarization.
The group has endorsed Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans.
Emma Bloomberg, daughter of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, also sits on With Honor’s advisory board. Bloomberg is the primary funder of Everytown and Moms Demand Action, two anti-gun political advocacy groups.
With Honor PAC gave Fuller’s 2020 campaign two donations of $2,500 for a total of $5,000.
Federal Elections records show Clayton Fuller’s political donation to a Democrat in 2017
Fuller is the Trump-endorsed candidate in a field of 22 candidates, including 17 Republicans. Trump is in Georgia on Thursday, where he’s expected to appear with Fuller.
Earlier this week, Trump appeared to forget he had backed Fuller when asked about the race on Air Force One.
‘Well we have a lot of people that want to take Marjorie ‘traitor’ Greene’s place,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday evening.
‘Many, many candidates, and I have to choose one,’ the president continued.
The president’s remarks immediately confounded some viewers since he endorsed Clay Fuller for the open House of Representatives seat earlier this month.
‘It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Clay Fuller, who is running to represent the wonderful people of Georgia’s 14th 14th Congressional District,’ Trump posted February 4 on Truth Social.
And yet days later, he seemed to favor neutrality.
‘They say whoever I endorse is going to win. But we have a lot of good candidates that want to take her place,’ he said Monday.
The White House did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on if the endorsement was rescinded or if Trump, 79, had misspoke. Instead, a White House official pointed to Trump’s original February 4 endorsement and to the president’s reposting it on Wednesday.
Fuller’s decision-making has been called into question by his rivals.
Three political operatives working on three separate Georgia races this year told The Daily Mail that they had caught wind that Fuller’s campaign is being led by Brandon Phillips, the former chief of staff to Georgia Congressman Mike Collins, who is presently running in the GOP primary for US Senate.
The move was also noted by Georgia Political Insight.
The Daily Mail has relentlessly reported on Phillips history of legal and ethical issues.
The chief of staff previously spurred a batch of negative headlines in 2022 for kicking a dog and facing charges for it.
Phillips was arrested on November 17, 2022, on a misdemeanor charge for animal cruelty. He was held on $1,200 bond and was later released, Politico reported at the time.
He was accused of kicking a dog and injuring its stomach, according to court files.
In 2016, when Phillips worked for Donald Trump’s campaign in Georgia, he resigned after it was revealed he had a criminal history.
While FEC records do not show disbursements from Fuller’s special election campaign to Phillips, records do reveal that Fuller’s only political contribution of the 2025-2026 campaign cycle went to Collins’ Senate campaign.
Brandon Phillips’ X post sharing Trump’s endorsement of Fuller, in which Fuller was tagged
Phillips also reposted Trump’s endorsement of Fuller on X earlier this month, with the caption, ‘Y’all heard the man.’
Daily Mail has asked both Phillips and Fuller’s campaign what the relationship is between the two. They did not respond to the requests for comment.
After allegations surfaced about Phillips, congressional staffer database Legistorm shows that he was removed from his position as chief of staff in Collins’ Capitol Hill office, but continues to serve as the congressman’s Senior Policy Adviser as of last month.
Taylor Greene announced in November her intention to resign from her congressional seat on the 5th of January, creating the vacancy. She is not weighing in on who should replace her, noting on X last year that she trusts ‘the wonderful people of Georgia 14 … to pick their Representative.’
Whoever wins the special election will also face off in May in the primary for the full term of the seat in the 2026 election.
Voting has started for the special election, which will be held on March 10th. If no candidate receives a majority, a runoff will be held April 7.