Regardless of whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump wins next month’s presidential election, state Sen. Shawn Still said he will accept the results.
“I’m going to follow our governor and secretary of state and support their certification of the vote, regardless of whether or not it’s Harris or Trump,” he said, in his first extensive interview since being indicted.
In 2023, a Fulton County grand jury handed up seven felony charges against Still, a Republican who represents parts of Fulton, Gwinnett and Forsyth counties. District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that Still and 14 remaining defendants, including Trump, participated in a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 election.
Still is also charged with forgery, impersonating a public officer and making false statements and writings for casting an electoral college ballot for Trump four years ago. He was among the 16 Republican activists who purported to be “duly elected” presidential electors from Georgia, even though Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the state’s electoral college votes.
Still, who at the time was not yet serving in the Legislature, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Fulton prosecutors allege the electors participated in an illegal scheme to pressure state legislators and then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn a legitimate election and nullify the vote of millions of Georgians.
At a May hearing, prosecutor Donald Wakeford argued that Still is facing charges for misrepresenting himself as a presidential elector.
“It’s a discrete term, which he undoubtedly was not at the time,” he said.
In a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Still said he believed at the time that it was appropriate to pause certification of the election as lawsuits challenging the 2020 results were being resolved.
“I believe in the right for anyone to challenge a legal decision. I believe in a democracy that you’re allowed to ask that question,” he said. “You’re not allowed to overthrow the government for it, but you can ask the question. You can raise your hand and say, ‘Can we press pause? Can we take a look at this?’ That was what I believed we were doing; that’s what we were told we were doing.”
In court, Still’s attorneys have argued that he was following legal advice from Trump campaign attorney Ray Smith when he served as a GOP elector and that the charges against him should be dropped.
But this time around, even if Harris appears to win with the narrowest of margins and there are legal challenges, Still said he would not plan to serve as a GOP elector.
“I would never do it again, knowing what I’ve been through,” he said.
‘Excluded myself’
Even as other Republican lawmakers in the Senate chamber have sought additional oversight of Willis during this year’s legislative session, Still said he made sure to avoid voting on those measures. They included the creation of a select committee on investigations, which recently subpoenaed Willis.
“I walked on all three of those bills,” he said. “I very deliberately got up out of my seat, excused myself, and walked out because I never, ever, ever was going to put myself in a position where I could be accused of voting on a bill that removed me from this ridiculous case.”
The legislative efforts to target Willis are being led by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who was also among the GOP electors named in the Fulton investigation. In September, Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, announced he would decline to pursue criminal charges against Jones.
Last month, the trial judge overseeing the Fulton case gave Still a win, striking one of his felony counts — criminal attempt to commit filing false documents — from the indictment. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said that and two other counts also involving alleged false statements made to a federal court are outside his jurisdiction.
On Thursday, a separate gambit from Still’s legal team was rebuffed. The federal appeals court in Atlanta rejected an attempt from the senator and two other GOP electors who sought to move their case from Fulton to federal court.
The bulk of the case, however, remains frozen as the Georgia Court of Appeals considers arguments against Willis, who defendants say should be disqualified from the case because of her romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Still was not among the group of nine defendants who spearheaded the attempt to remove Willis. But Still said he plans to be there on Dec. 5, the day the appeals court hears the issue.
“For all that she’s put me through, whether she’s there or not, I’m going to be there. And if you have photographers in the courtroom that day, they’re going to see my face sitting on the front row, quietly observing, quietly watching and letting her be exposed for this whole false case,” he said.
The case has had a deep impact on Still’s life, he said.
“It has been a very traumatic situation,” he said, adding that his teenage daughters have been bullied because of his case.
Still’s Democratic opponent, Ashwin Ramaswami, has used the case as evidence for why Still is unfit for office.
“He’s just lying left and right,” he said.
Ramaswami said he jumped into the race after encountering Georgia’s election interference case while he was in law school.
“I was like, Oh, wow. Like, Is Shawn Still the best they got? They deserve a better representation.”
