 He resigned to manage the 1994 gubernatorial campaign of Republican businessman Guy Millner, who narrowly lost the general election to Governor Zell Miller.Shafer ran for secretary of state himself in 1996, winning a hotly contested Republican primary in the race to succeed Max Cleland but losing the general election to Democrat Lewis Massey, who had been appointed to succeed Cleland by Miller.Shafer ran for state chairman of the Georgia Republican Party in 2001, placing second in a three-way race ultimately won by Christian conservative activist Ralph Reed.