Georgia Republicans aim to build next generation of power in Washington

But Jack’s goal stretches beyond the midterms. He and his allies are cultivating a younger class of conservatives who could climb the ranks of Congress and reestablish the kind of influence Georgia Republicans haven’t enjoyed since Newt Gingrich wielded the speaker’s gavel in the 1990s.

There is one catch: They have to stay.

“The problem is you have to have people stay around for a while. Seniority is not as important as it was in the 1970s, but it’s still an important factor. And our people turn over too much,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, who has chronicled state politics for more than a half-century.

“If you’ve only been there 10 years and leave, you haven’t been there long enough.”

Senior Georgia Republicans learned that lesson the hard way. Many stayed on the sidelines in 2020 as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s contentious campaign gained traction, allowing an unpredictable firebrand to capture a safe GOP seat.

This cycle, they’re not taking that risk. Trump’s early intervention, combined with backing from state leaders, helped steer activists, donors and endorsements toward candidates for open U.S. House seats they view as more disciplined, more electable and more likely to stick around long enough to matter in Washington.

Credit: Jim Galloway

Credit: Jim Galloway

Former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, the father of Jim Kingston, said he remembers sitting in strategy sessions with Gingrich and other Georgia Republicans in the early 1990s discussing how to win key committee assignments. He sees echoes of that same long-term thinking in this new generation of Georgia Republicans.

“They can hit the ground as a unit and get so much done. Washington is a relationship game, and in a sense, Georgia being a swing state works to get our delegation more clout,” said Kingston, who stepped down in 2014 to run for Senate.

“If they all hold hands and jump in the pool at the same time,” he added, “it makes more of a splash.”

‘Stick the course’

Georgia’s peak Washington clout came from members who treated Congress as a career, not a steppingstone.

Carl Vinson served in the House from 1914 to 1965 and became one of the most powerful defense lawmakers in U.S. history, becoming known as the “father of the two-ocean navy.”

Richard Russell followed a similar path in the Senate. He served from 1932 to 1971, chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee during two major wars and helped steer significant investments to Georgia, including military installations and the headquarters for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Decades later, Gingrich gave Georgia Republicans their high-water mark. He was elected speaker in January 1995, drove the “Contract with America” agenda and became the national face of House Republicans during much of Bill Clinton’s presidency.

Georgia Republicans have struggled to match that stature since. A Georgia Republican hasn’t chaired a House committee since Tom Price took the helm of the Budget Committee in 2015. And no member of Georgia’s delegation is on the Ways and Means Committee, the powerful panel that helps write the nation’s tax and economic policy.

More recently, it was Georgia Democrats who held more institutional leverage in the House.

Credit: Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com

Credit: Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com

U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop is the top Democrat on a key House Appropriations subcommittee. U.S. Rep. David Scott, who died in April, was the first Black chair of the House Agriculture Committee. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died in 2020, was a member of the House leadership team.

“What’s the common denominator?” said Bullock. “They all stayed at least 20 years.”

Jack is looking to change that.

A sixth-generation Georgian and graduate of metro Atlanta’s prestigious Woodward Academy, Jack first made headlines in national politics as the lead operative charged with locking down Republican delegates during Trump’s dramatic 2016 nomination fight. He later became Trump’s political director and, in 2021, took a similar job with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy before rejoining Trump’s comeback bid.

He won Georgia’s only open U.S. House seat in 2024 by leaning heavily on Trump’s endorsement, support from a network of MAGA allies and his deep roots in the district.

There was a similar pattern to the nominations for Fuller, Gaines and Kingston.

First came Jack’s quiet support. Then party leaders began lining up behind them. Next came Trump’s blessing, followed by a wider consolidation of donors, activists and allies behind the younger Georgia Republicans who could spend decades in Congress. Gaines is 31, Kingston is 35, and Fuller is 45.

Jack describes all three as part of a broader effort to make Georgia’s delegation match the state’s growing political and economic stature.

“It’s important for our delegation to reflect the national reputation Georgia has earned, as a state with boundless opportunity,” he said.

All three face Democratic opposition but are heavily favored to win in Republican-friendly districts. Fuller already has a head start, winning a special election in April to fill Greene’s unexpired term.

The fourth open Republican-held seat, now held by retiring U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, is less settled. Jack and Trump haven’t taken sides in the runoff between Dr. John Cowan, a neurosurgeon who lost to Greene in 2020, and Rob Adkerson, Loudermilk’s former top aide.

They would join a delegation that already includes Republicans who could be on the cusp of more influence. U.S. Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton, the delegation’s dean, could be well-positioned to lead the Agriculture Committee, while U.S. Rep. Rick Allen of Augusta sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Karen Owen, head of political science at the University of West Georgia, said Georgia politicians have long sought more influence that can help the state matter more in Congress.

The challenge Jack is tackling, she said, is that the payoff comes years later after the campaigns are over, and the younger lawmakers must decide whether to “stick the course through election and reelections to grow institutional knowledge and acumen that can be harnessed to lead committees and the party.”

Former U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who held the seat Jack now occupies, sees the same opening.

Westmoreland was in his mid-50s when he was first elected to Congress in 2004. He spent 12 years in the U.S. House and was seen in 2015 as a possible contender for a House leadership post. But he said younger members have an even bigger opportunity if they stay long enough.

“You’ve got to be around for a while, and these guys can be around for a long time,” he said. “We’re going to have some real possibility of having real seniority down the road.”

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC