Meanwhile, attorney Courtney Kramer filed paperwork to run for the seat as a Republican. She worked as a litigation consultant for Trump’s legal team after the 2020 election and helped handle other election-related matters for state GOP legislators and the Georgia Republican Party.
Willis is the odds-on favorite. Fulton County is a Democratic stronghold, and she is one of the most recognizable political figures in the state, if not the nation. She has the advantage of incumbency and amassed a small fortune in her campaign account.
But Wise Smith and Kramer could still present her a political headache by trying to turn the race into a proxy fight over her racketeering case that charged Trump and 18 others with conspiring to overturn President Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in Georgia.
And they could bring more scrutiny to Willis’ personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade that’s at the center of efforts by Trump and several of his co-defendants to remove her from the case.
Wise Smith received about 23% of the Democratic vote in the 2020 primary for Fulton DA. He ran on a platform that included vows to no longer seek the death penalty, eliminate cash bail and decriminalize drug possession.
He went on to endorse District Attorney Paul Howard in the runoff, saying he was particularly troubled that Willis had received the support of the Atlanta Police Union. Willis easily defeated Howard, a six-term incumbent, in a head-to-head runoff.
Wise Smith told the AJC Friday he is still “weighing his options” about how vigorously to pursue his challenge this time around, indicating he could wait for the outcome of the disqualification effort before deciding whether he needs to wage a more concerted campaign.
“It’s a necessary first step. I had to take that step, or else I can’t run. But a lot of how we move forward is going to be determined by the outcome of that case,” he…
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