The governor muscled his measure to limit lawsuits and bring down jury awards through the General Assembly last week after a yearslong fight. But the fallout over “tort reform” is only beginning.

Kemp hasn’t ruled out making good on his vow earlier this year to support primary challenges against Republicans who voted against the bill, which opponents call a corporate giveaway that limits access to the civil justice system.

The finger-pointing is intensifying within liberal circles, too. Some leaders are encouraging primary challenges against Democrats who crossed party lines to support Kemp’s top legislative priority.

State Rep. Mack Jackson, D-Sandersville, a rural Black lawmaker who infuriated party leaders by voting for the proposal, likened his critics to racist segregationists. After declining to answer questions about whether he’d quit the party, he said Monday he was staying put. “Family members disagree sometimes, but you don’t leave,” Jackson told the AJC.

Critics of the overhaul are threatening not only to challenge it in court but also to file State Bar of Georgia complaints against attorneys in the Legislature who voted for the measure.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

One of the bill’s most outspoken opponents is former Gov. Roy Barnes, a renowned trial lawyer who was the state’s last Democratic governor. He recently fired off a blistering message to leaders of the state’s top trial lawyer lobby blaming the nonpartisan group’s “ridiculous” strategy of donating to Democrats and Republicans.

“As I said on the call last week, if we had spent all that money to win 10 (Democratic) House seats, we would not be in this situation,” Barnes wrote to leaders of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association a few weeks ago.

He urged GTLA to focus on retaking control of the Legislature “so we don’t have folks who talk nice to us and don’t vote for us.” He declined further comment.

GTLA responded with a statement saying it has been a bipartisan organization for more than 20 years and “will remain committed to supporting legislators who are aligned with these bedrock constitutional principles.”

‘It needed work’

The backlash has been particularly fierce for the three House Democrats who voted for the measure, with Jackson invoking the segregationist-era racism of Bull Connor and George Wallace as he described the “rage and anger” he’s faced.

In a fiery speech on the House floor, Jackson said he heard from colleagues who reminded him of political donations he’s received over the years as if he owed the trial law lobby his vote. Another unnamed Democratic legislator, he said, “talked down to me as if I’m a child.”

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

His speech was met with a standing ovation from House Republicans. State Rep. Tanya Miller, a top House Democrat from Atlanta, had responded to the speculation about his potential party defection with two words: “Good riddance.”

State Rep. Stacey Evans, an Atlanta Democrat, said she hoped Jackson and two other Democrats who backed the measure — Reps. Carl Gilliard of Savannah and Michelle Au of Johns Creek — feel the heat.

“I hope their voters will make them account for it, just as I hope that the voters make Republicans who voted yes account for it,” Evans said. “This was a bad bill and there’s no reason to vote yes for it.”

In some cases, lawmakers with long track records of hewing to the party line find themselves in the crosshairs.

Au, a physician, is one of her party’s leading critics of Republican healthcare policy and long has fought for gun control legislation. She told party leaders early in the debate that she would back Kemp’s measure and waited until its passage seemed secure before casting her “yes” vote. That hardly stemmed the blowback. She has been deluged with criticism, lending her to pen a two-page response.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

“It is by no means a perfect bill. There are elements I object to,” Au wrote. “But on balance I think it protects our fair, equal access for all to our justice system while hopefully addressing the ways our litigation environment has become untenable for many.”

Smith, too, is hardly a firebrand. First elected in 1992, the west Georgia Republican has been a reliable conservative vote for decades. It’s one reason he was so surprised by the Harris County Chamber’s abrupt decision to fire him.

“It became obvious that we had different visions for the future success of our organization and its members and it was time for us to move forward in a different direction,” wrote the board’s chair, Theresa Garcia Robertson, in an email obtained by the AJC.

Garcia Robertson is the wife of state Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, one of the top Republicans in the Georgia Senate and a key supporter of the bill. She declined to comment Sunday on Smith’s sacking but said board members hold “Vance in high regard personally and appreciate his service.”

Vance, one of eight House Republicans to oppose the bill, told the AJC he had no regrets about his vote. He had worked to make revisions to the measure since January and attended four meetings of the House committee tasked with marshaling it through the Gold Dome even though he wasn’t one of its members.

“That bill needed work. And if it’s not a good bill, we should make it a good bill. We’re a deliberative body and we should have deliberated and worked on our own version of the bill,” he said. “But you can’t please everyone.”

Staff writer Michelle Baruchman contributed to this report.