Tuesday was supposed to be a victory lap for Republicans and Kevin McCarthy, who wanted to celebrate their newly won House majority. Instead, the GOP watched an embarrassing and historic debacle, as McCarthy failed three times to win the votes he needed to succeed Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.
The Washington impasse put three Georgian Republicans in the spotlight.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, was the only one of Georgia’s GOP delegation among the 20 dissenters. He said Tuesday they would continue negotiating with McCarthy, but would not say what the group wanted in exchange for its support.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who built her brand in Congress by warring with the GOP establishment, emerged as one of McCarthy’s staunchest and most surprising allies. She could be rewarded with a plum position on the House Oversight of Rules committees, but she blasted her fellow far-right members and “supposed friends” for demanding specific positions for themselves and not for her.
“Because you want to know something — that is the failure of Republicans,” she told reporters. “The Republicans are the party of ‘never,’ and it’s always ‘never’ when they don’t like somebody, and that’s how we failed the country; we failed our voters.”
MTG absolutely torching Freedom Caucus members and "my supposed friends" like @mattgaetz for the demands they made for themselves, but not for her.
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) January 3, 2023
If McCarthy can't get the votes for his own Speakership, it's hard to see how he can get the votes for anything hard. #gapol https://t.co/RllR6cnELW
And then there’s newly-elected U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who campaigned on a promise to oppose McCarthy, but in the first round of voting, broke his pledge and backed McCarthy anyway.
McCarthy appears determined to continue to fight for the gavel Wednesday with at least 200 Republicans backing him. But the roughly two dozen far-right legislators who oppose him seem resolved to continue their mutiny, too.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is no stranger to House rebellions, put words to many Republicans’ frustrations on Fox News late Tuesday, calling the insurgents’ display on the House floor “insulting.”
“How can you hold the entire party hostage? How can you hold the House hostage?”
Politics are the most interesting when it’s not clear what will happen next, and we heard from Republicans throughout the day Tuesday who still have no idea what will unfold as a new day dawns.
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FUN FACT: Not only does the U.S. House of Representatives have no speaker, it also has no members. Without a speaker for the new Congress, the chamber cannot adopt a rules package and also cannot swear in new members.
If only because 434 people did not just run for election to sit in Washington with no titles, we predict a resolution to this wild impasse sooner rather than later.
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LISTEN UP. Speaking of predictions, the new year also means a brand new season of the Politically Georgia podcast — and the newest episode is ready for you right now in your podcast feeds.
Since the McCarthy drama was mid-meltdown as we taped the episode, we’re making predictions about all of the other potentially newsmaking headlines we think could come out of Georgia politics in 2023. We’ll unpack the new Congress in our next episode.
Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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WARNOCK IN. While House members waited to take the oath of office Tuesday (they’re still waiting), the U.S. Senate gaveled into session right on time to swear-in its newest legislative class.
Among them was Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who can finally breathe a sigh of relief as he starts his first six-year term in the Senate.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Sworn in by alphabetical groups, Warnock stood between Ohio Republican J.D. Vance and Vermont Democrat Peter Welch as Vice President Kamala Harris administered the oath of office. Warnock then did a second, ceremonial swearing in with his children in the Old Senate Chamber, and celebrated with staff and supporters a reception in the stately Russell Senate Office Building.
Our Washington Insider Tia Mitchell was on hand for all of the Georgia-related action Tuesday in Washington, which you can follow on her Twitter feed.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House reconvenes at noon for a fourth round of voting to select the next speaker. Additional ballots could follow if McCarthy cannot convince a small, but significant, band of rebels to get behind him.
- President Joe Biden will travel to Kentucky with Sen. Mitch McConnell to highlight infrastructure dollars being used for bridge repairs in Ohio and the Blue Grass State.
- The Senate is in recess until Jan. 23.
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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
SMYRE REAPPOINTED. President Joe Biden wasted no time in reappointing former state Rep. Calvin Smyre to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
Smyre, a Democrat from Columbus, was among dozens of Biden nominees who was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate before the last session adjourned Tuesday morning. That meant if the president wanted to give them another chance at serving, he would need to reappoint them again.
Biden did just that, forwarding Smyre’s name to the Senate among many others shortly after the new two-year session got underway.
Biden also reappointed Nancy G. Abudu to serve as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Judicial Circuit, which is based in Atlanta. A Senate committee deadlocked on Abudu’s nomination during the previous session, and Democrats did not take the procedural steps necessary to move her to the floor for a vote.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
RALSTON RACE. Speaking of speakers, the race to succeed the late Georgia House Speaker David Ralston in House District 7 is headed to a runoff between his widow, Sheree Ralston, and Johnny Chastain.
In the unofficial tally for Tuesday’s special election, Ralston finished first, with 45% of the vote, while Chastain followed with 39%.
The two are more than a little familiar with each other, since Chastain, a bank executive, also serves on the Fannin County Development Authority. Ralston is the Fannin County Development Authority’s Executive Director.
Website owner Brian Pritchard, whose team went negative against Sheree Ralston during the campaign, is currently fourth in the five-way race. All of the candidates are registered Republicans in the seat based in the Blue Ridge area.
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Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
CRIME WATCH. In separate tweets over the holiday break, Gov. Brian Kemp and incoming Lt. Gov. Burt Jones underlined their plans to focus on violent crime when the legislative session starts next week.
Kemp highlighted an Athens Banner Herald story about a county judge who dismissed a sexual assault indictment after she ruled that local prosecutors failed to meet her speedy trial demand.
“Far-left local prosecutors are failing their constituents and making our communities less safe,” Kemp tweeted, adding that he plans to “address it this session” with the help of state legislators and Attorney General Chris Carr.
Far-left local prosecutors are failing their constituents and making our communities less safe.
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) December 23, 2022
I look forward to working with members of the General Assembly and @ChrisCarr_Ga to address it this session! https://t.co/c9EmuUgI64
And Jones mourned the shooting death of an off-duty Fulton County sheriff’s deputy with a social media post promising swift action.
“Enough is enough,” he said in the tweet. “As Lieutenant Governor, we’re going to tackle this issue head on and work to restore law and order to our streets starting very soon.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will have some suggestion for lawmakers this session of her own. She told The New York Times that lawmakers should consider empowering prosecutors to bring charges in cases such as the one involving Rico Marley, the man arrested in 2021 in a Publix bathroom in Midtown while wearing body armor and carrying six loaded guns.
Willis said her office could not prosecute Marley because they had not found “provable felonies under Georgia law.”
“Georgia’s General Assembly must examine our statutes governing this type of behavior,” Willis said. “Respecting the right to bear arms should not require that we tolerate people entering public places with assault rifles and body armor.”
It’s not clear what measures Kemp will push, but he has previously endorsed new crackdowns on human trafficking and gang violence, along with proposals to limit no-cash bail and boost the ranks of law enforcement officers and medical examiners.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
INSULIN CAP. The start of the new year also brought with it the enactment of multiple new federal laws, including one that caps out-of-pocket costs for insulin to $35 a month for people on Medicare.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Lucy McBath, both of Georgia, were among the lawmakers who took the lead on the effort. Both celebrated the new law’s implementation by reminding supporters
Warnock issued a news release describing the new law as life-changing: “If you need insulin, you really need insulin — it is not a choice. I’m thrilled to see my provision to cap insulin costs for Medicare recipients finally take effect because, simply put, this measure will save lives.”
McBath said in a statement: “With the signing of my bill last year, I am so proud that seniors who need insulin to live will have access at an affordable price.”
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GEORGIA BOSSES. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who helped give his party an outright majority in the Senate, has tapped a Georgia native as one of his top deputies.
Tre Easton, who was born in Barnesville, will serve as the senator’s legislative director.
And U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House Minority Leader, announced that Zoe Oreck will serve as his leadership office policy director. Oreck, who was Jeffries’ legislative director in his personal office, is also Bulldog, having graduated from the University of Georgia’s Class of 2011.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
