Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been re-elected, defeating Republican challenger Courtney Kramer and securing her role in Georgia’s most populous county.
Willis, a Democrat, faced a straightforward path to victory in the solidly blue county, bolstered by her growing national profile due to her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in a landmark election interference case.
Willis’s office charged Trump and his allies under Georgia’s expansive Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in August 2023, accusing them of orchestrating a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, a state that narrowly supported President Joe Biden.
Trump, currently leading in Georgia’s general election against Vice President Kamala Harris by about 100,000 votes, could see his case profoundly affected by the outcome of the 2024 election.
The complexity and notoriety of the case have led to several legal challenges from Trump’s defense team, who have argued that Willis has a conflict of interest due to her collaboration with a special prosecutor.
A Georgia appeals court is expected to rule on Dec. 5 on whether Willis can remain on the case, following a lower court decision allowing her to stay despite attempts by Trump’s attorneys to remove her.
Willis’s approach to using Georgia’s RICO statute in high-stakes cases is not unprecedented. She has also employed it in the ongoing prosecution of rapper Young Thug, whose legal battles have drawn significant attention as Georgia’s longest-running trial.
Kramer, Willis’s opponent, campaigned on the promise to end the Young Thug prosecution if elected, a pledge that distinguished her campaign amid a largely Democratic constituency.
The timing of the trial against Trump and his co-defendants remains uncertain. Due to legal delays and procedural appeals, the proceedings are not expected to begin until after the next presidential inauguration in January 2025.
The potential outcome of the 2024 presidential race may have considerable impact on both this case and a separate federal trial Trump faces in Washington, D.C., with significant implications for his legal battles ahead.
