Republican Andrew Clyde has won a fourth term representing Georgia's 9th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Caitlyn Gegen in Tuesday's midterm election. Clyde, a Navy veteran turned gun store founder, pulled in 117,932 votes, or 56.94%, while Gegen collected 89,179 votes, or 43.06%, according to results reported by Now Georgia.
The win keeps the sprawling northeast Georgia seat firmly in Republican hands, a pattern that has held since Atlanta News First reports Clyde earned a fourth term in Congress on Tuesday. The outlet describes Clyde defeating Gegen, whom it calls a self-described community organizer, in a district that stretches across northeast Georgia. Gegen, for her part, told Now Georgia during her campaign, “I've been to almost all 12 counties,” underscoring how much ground she covered trying to flip a district that has leaned solidly Republican for years.
Clyde's path to Congress runs through both the military and the gun business. He spent 28 years as a U.S. Navy officer with combat deployments in Kuwait and Iraq, the station's report notes, before founding the Clyde Armory gun store in Athens in 1991 — a business the same report says has since grown into a national company. He now sits on the U.S. House appropriations and budget committee, according to the same account.
A Lopsided Rematch Years in the Making
Clyde first took office in 2021 after winning a runoff in the Republican primary, according to Access North Georgia. Since then, no Democrat has come particularly close to unseating him — Access North Georgia reported that the nearest any challenger got was a 69%-31% result against Democrat Tambrei Cash in the 2024 general election. Measured against that history, Gegen's roughly 43% share Tuesday actually marked a tighter finish than Clyde has faced in recent cycles.
Gegen brought an academic pedigree to her underdog run. She is a Suwanee resident and University of Georgia graduate who has also worked as a barista, per Access North Georgia's description. Now Georgia reported she earned both her bachelor's degree and a master of public administration from the University of Georgia and also studied at the London School of Economics.
Where the Candidates Diverged on Policy
On the campaign trail, Clyde laid out a platform built around shrinking the size of government. His priorities included cutting federal spending, reducing firearm taxes and regulations, and replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax under the Fair Tax proposal, Now Georgia reported.
Local issues also shaped the broader conversation in the district this cycle. Access North Georgia's election preview pointed to public pushback that preceded the withdrawal of the Hall County data-center proposal known as Project Turbo at the end of 2025, with opposition rooted in concerns about water consumption, power usage and noise complaints. The outlet also noted that Governor Brian Kemp's suspension of the state gas tax in late September had brought the price of regular unleaded back down to $3.70 per gallon as of Oct. 22, after prices had climbed above $4.
With the race called, Clyde heads into a fourth term representing the same northeast Georgia district, continuing a tenure that began five years ago with that 2021 runoff victory.
