Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is already facing a charged legal battle to bar her from prosecuting the election subversion case she brought against former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen allies in Georgia.
Now, she’s facing at least two new hurdles: Democrat Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton prosecutor and Atlanta solicitor, on Friday launched a primary campaign challenging Willis. Shortly after Smith’s announcement, Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer, an attorney who worked in the Office of the White House Counsel under Trump, joined the race.
The trio is on track to clash in a nonpartisan primary this spring, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the November general election. A longtime Democratic stronghold and home to the city of Atlanta, Fulton County will present an uphill challenge for Kramer, a vocal Trump supporter.
Willis emerged as a national figure shortly after the 2020 election, when she opened an investigation that ultimately led to criminal conspiracy charges against Trump and others accused of trying to steal Georgia’s electoral votes from their rightful winner, Joe Biden. But Willis has come under increased legal and political scrutiny in recent months after a lawyer for one of the defendants revealed that Willis had a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to help run the Trump case, Nathan Wade.
The court hearing the disqualification effort is expected to rule on Willis’ status within the next week.
Regardless of that outcome, Willis will first have to finish in first- or second-place in the May 21 primary in order to advance to a one-on-one contest to keep her seat in the fall.
Asked if his decision to run had anything to do with Willis facing disqualification in the Trump racketeering case, Wise…
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