The incumbent and two challengers in the race for Fulton County district attorney are adjusting their campaigns as virus suppression efforts have all but eliminated traditional face-to-face tactics.

"People are really afraid of the unknown," said Paul Howard Jr., who has held the DA post since 1997. "It is difficult to even talk about a political campaign."

"It's hard not to be able to shake people's hands," said one challenger, Fani Willis, a 16-year veteran of the DA's office before she left in 2018 for private practice.

Christian Wise Smith, a onetime assistant solicitor with the city of Atlanta who spent two years as a Fulton prosecutor, had planned on knocking on a lot of doors and holding town halls to push his candidacy.

"I'm adapting to the times," said Smith, who said he has stopped asking for campaign funds as millions have lost jobs around the country. He said he is helping an effort to buy gift cards from restaurants and give those to health care workers and to children at a youth center.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger postponed the May 19 election to June 9 to give election authorities more time "to ensure that voting can be safe and secure when in-person voting begins and prioritizes the health and safety of voters, county election officials, and poll workers."

Campaign reports from February show that Smith had raised $22,300 for the race, while Howard had raised $13,969. Willis' campaign did not register until March and did not file a February report.

Howard said he has traditionally relied on small donors, people who have been particularly hard hit by economic side effects of the crisis.

With attention on the virus, he said he is mostly reminding voters of what he has done and focusing on his job duties–running a 238-person office that is hampered by so many court activities suspended and working with other officials to reduce the Fulton County jail population. Domestic violence is also a concern as the general public has been ordered to stay at home, he said.

Willis said the social distancing that has ended physically engaging with voters forced her to view modern campaigning realistically, seeing that phone banks and social media are key elements anyway, despite the comfort she feels connecting in person with voters.

Recently she was interviewed on a public access TV station in which she sat in one studio and the host sat in another to maintain proper social distance. Her team then streamed the interview on Facebook Live.

Willis said she expected the DA's office will be particularly busy when court proceedings resume beyond the limited ones allowed while so many are hunkering down at home. "It's going to take us a long time" to get back to normal, she said.