2 Georgia Democrats are competing Tuesday to serve the final month of Rep. John Lewis' term

Georgia's 5th Congressional District is holding a runoff election Tuesday in which two Democrats are vying for the chance to serve a month in Congress, before handing the seat off to Nikema Williams, the Democratic state senator who won the seat Nov. 3. In Tuesday's election, former Atlanta City Council member Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College President Robert Franklin — the top two vote-getters from September's seven-person primary — are competing go serve out the remainder of the late Rep. John Lewis' (D-Ga.) final term in office, which ends Jan. 3.

Lewis, a civil rights icon and the last living speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, died from pancreatic cancer in July at age 80. He had represented the Atlanta-area seat in Congress since 1987. The winner of Tuesday's runoff — Hall, 49, or Franklin, 66 — won't do much more than vote on a stopgap budget and, if the stars align, a COVID-19 relief package. "It's about moral leadership at a time of national crisis," Franklin said, pointing to the examples from Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr.

Turnout isn't expected to be high — fewer than 31,000 people voted in September's primary, The Associated Press notes. Franklin has raised $282,000 for his bid, including a $65,000 loan, and Hall has raised $194,000.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up