The Jolt: With House speaker’s ouster, Georgia Republicans weigh what’s next

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter was visibly shaken as he left a closed-door meeting Tuesday night where Kevin McCarthy announced he would not attempt to regain his post as House speaker.

McCarthy’s decision sparks a wide-open race for the chamber’s next leader. The GOP is a highly fractured party with a razor-thin majority in the House — and no clear front-runner. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, is widely expected to announce a bid.

Carter, a Savannah-area Republican, said he’s going into the next phase with an “open mind,” though he’s still holding out hope McCarthy has a change of heart.

U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick bluntly described the sentiment among House GOP members as widespread “disgust.”

“Everybody’s angry,” the Suwannee Republican said. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what to think and what to say and what to do because nobody knows.”

The revolt that ousted McCarthy from his leadership post was without precedent, and lawmakers still don’t know what they can do without a permanent speaker in place.

Your Jolters also caught up with Rep. Andrew Clyde, a second-term Republican from Athens who was among the 20 lawmakers who initially blocked McCarthy’s speaker bid in January.

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Though Clyde has been critical of key McCarthy decisions, including the stopgap deal reached over the weekend to keep the government running, he said he didn’t join the rebellion because McCarthy kept his promise to vote on spending bills.

Now, Clyde and his colleagues are fielding calls from speaker wannabes and their allies ahead of another GOP-only meeting next Tuesday that will double as a candidate forum.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, the North Carolina Republican and the interim speaker, said he plans to schedule a speaker vote for next Wednesday. But much will depend on whether Republicans first coalesce around a candidate.

As U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, told CNN Tuesday night, “The conference is going to have to figure out how we deal with eight people who are here that candidly aren’t interested in governing and are more interested in grifting.”

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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

STAY TUNED. Out of chaos comes opportunity. We’re closely watching Georgia U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, a former chief deputy whip in the House who could be angling for a leadership post.

The lawmaker from The Rock is also a close ally of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican in the House and a potential contender for the gavel.

One of the biggest losers Tuesday, other than Kevin McCarthy of course, was U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Rome congresswoman had become one of McCarthy’s closest allies, even as she voted against his government funding bills in recent weeks.

McCarthy famously told the New York Times of Greene, “I will always take care of her.” Getting such a commitment from the new speaker will be a challenge for Greene.

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Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

SPLIT SCREEN. Even as the chaos in the U.S. House exploded Tuesday, Georgia Republican leaders, past and present, stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the Governor’s Mansion to celebrate the state’s decade of explosive economic growth.

Gov. Brian Kemp and his aides couldn’t have anticipated the far-right rebellion against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy would reach a vote at exactly the same moment his celebratory announcement began.

But as Kemp stood beside former Gov. Nathan Deal, first lady Marty Kemp and the state’s last three economic development commissioners, the contrast between the tumult in Washington and the stability in Atlanta was on full display.

“Shout it from the rooftops,” said Jay Morgan, a former Georgia GOP executive director who is no fan of ultraconservative Republicans. “On a day when Congress is dysfunctional, Georgia shines.”

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

That’s not to say the state’s Republicans haven’t seen tumult within their ranks, too. State Sen. Colton Moore, practically taking a page out of rebel U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s playbook, launched a failed push for a special session of the General Assembly over the summer and continues to call on the GOP base to activate against Kemp and top legislative leaders.

But unlike Gaetz, Moore has found no allies in his chamber for his efforts. Kemp quickly called out the freshman senator for engineering “a grifter scam,” and the Trenton Republican was tossed from the Senate caucus last week as a punishment for the attacks on his colleagues.

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SOUTHERN ROOTS. While Republicans were spiraling on the House side of the Capitol on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris was swearing in Laphonza Butler as the newest Democratic member of the U.S. Senate.

Butler, 44, was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to complete the term of the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last week.

Along with being the former head of EMILY’s List, a former adviser to Harris, and a longtime leader within the California labor movement, Butler is also a native Southerner, having been born and raised in Magnolia, Mississippi. She is a graduate of Jackson State University.

The only Black female senator, Butler received a standing ovation from both her Democratic and Republican colleagues.

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Credit: John Spink/AJC

JAIL INQUIRY. The Fulton County Jail has been in the headlines for years because of overcrowding, dangerous conditions and prisoner deaths.

Look for state Sens. John Albers, R-Roswell, and Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones , R-Jackson, to hold a Capitol news conference Thursday announcing Senate action in response to conditions at the jail.

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

PAPER SHREDDERS. Yard signs promoting “Paper Ballots Please” have sprouted from the landscape in recent months. On Tuesday, the State Election Board rejected that plea, voting down a ballot secrecy rule change that would have permitted paper ballot voting stations along with touchscreens in polling places where there isn’t enough space to shield voters’ choices from eavesdropping.

As the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports, change was sought by Marilyn Marks, executive director for the Coalition for Good Governance, an organization suing the state seeking hand-marked paper ballots.

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EMPTY NETS. With autumn’s start last week, observers have noticed how many shrimp boats have remained tied to Georgia’s docks. A glut of farm-raised shrimp from overseas has flooded the U.S. market and suppressed prices to where Georgia shrimpers and others along the Atlanta seaboard and the Gulf Coast can’t make a profit.

The situation is dire enough that shrimpers have called on Gov. Brian Kemp and the leaders of nine other states for help. The Southern Shrimp Alliance sent a letter to governors in late August asking them to back a request to the U.S. Department of Commerce to declare a fishery resource disaster. Such a designation would free up federal relief funds for shrimpers.

More recently, nine state lawmakers representing districts along the coast made a similar appeal to Kemp.

The governor’s office is currently reviewing the letters, according to a staffer. An aide to U.S. House Rep. Buddy Carter, whose district covers the coast, said the congressman has spoken with the Southern Shrimpers Alliance about the issue and is committed to combating anti-competitive practices to protect Georgia shrimpers.

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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House on his administration’s efforts to cancel student loan debt.
The U.S. Senate focuses on confirmations.
The House is adjourned for the week; members return next Tuesday.

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WARNOCK CANVASSER. The Savannah man who shot a teenager canvassing door-to-door for U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock during the 2022 election campaign has entered a self-defense motion in court.

Jimmy Paiz is awaiting trial on aggravated assault and battery charges for shooting the 15-year-old Warnock volunteer through his front door. The Savannah Morning News reports Paiz’s attorney filed a motion for immunity on Sept. 12 that claims his client felt threatened by the Warnock volunteer. Paiz alleges the teen knocked repeatedly before appearing to rattle the door.

Paiz’s motion says he watched the teen on a Ring camera device and that the “young man had a jacket on that certainly looked like it had pockets, possibly concealing a weapon.”

The gunshot hit the boy in the leg. The next court action in the case, a status check, is Nov. 6.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

RIVERWALK RENAMED. The Augusta Riverwalk is now officially known as the Edward M. McIntyre Sr. Riverwalk Park following a Tuesday vote by the Augusta Commission. McIntryre was the city’s first Black mayor and a champion of the picturesque downtown greenspace’s creation along the banks of the Savannah River.

The push to name the Riverwalk in McIntyre’s honor has been controversial. He resigned from office in 1984 after a conviction for extortion. On Tuesday, the commission voted 6-3 to rechristen the park for the former mayor, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

DOG OF THE DAY. Meet Storm Golden, the handsome yellow lab with a name like a soap opera star.

Storm’s life has been as dramatic as his name, having been rescued three years ago by AJC subscriber Tim Golden from Valdosta. Storm and Tim also recently weathered Valdosta’s latest storm, Hurricane Idalia, together last month. And for all of that, Storm, you are our Jolt Dog of the Day!

Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.

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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.