U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston’s loss in Tuesday’s Senate GOP runoff means that an additional 22 years of institutional knowledge for the Georgia delegation will depart at year’s end.
The retirement of Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (eight years in the House, 12 in the Senate) prompted Kingston, a Savannah Republican, to hop into the race to replace him, along with U.S. Reps. Phil Gingrey of Marietta (12 years) and Paul Broun of Athens (seven years). All three lost.
With businessman David Perdue and nonprofit executive Michelle Nunn battling to succeed Chambliss, Georgia will have a senator next year who never has held elected office before.
The delegation also will have at least three new congressmen. Republican businessman Rick Allen of Augusta could be the fourth if he takes out Democratic U.S. Rep. John Barrow (10 years).
So what does it all mean for the state’s clout? Not much, if you ask Kingston.
“I think there will be enough talent that the voids that may be left by some of the senior guys will be filled quickly,” said Kingston, who for a few more months controls health care spending on the House Appropriations Committee.
“You know, Tom Price is really close to being Budget (Committee) chairman. Lynn Westmoreland is right on the brink of running the (National Republican Congressional Committee) or doing something with leadership,” Kingston said. “So, you know, I’m sure they’ll do well.”
Both Price and Westmoreland declined to take a shot at leadership after former Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary, but they could move up in the coming years. The pair has credibility among newer, tea party-driven members and party leaders, but for different reasons.
Price, of Roswell, has message discipline and health policy smarts; Westmoreland, of Coweta County, has political savvy and led the Republican Party’s wildly successful national redistricting efforts after the 2010 census.
Among House Democrats, Georgia’s most prominent member is U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, whose profile as a civil rights legend gives him the ear of leadership.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany has a prime perch on the Appropriations Committee overseeing funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction. And U.S. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta could compete to be the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee next year if U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, who is in a tough district in Minnesota, loses.
But the minority party is severely marginalized in the House. And thanks in part to Westmoreland’s district lines, Democrats likely will be in the minority for a while.
In the Senate, Georgia will have one rookie and Johnny Isakson, a mainstay of Georgia GOP politics for decades who has served in Washington since 1999. If Republicans take the Senate, Isakson is in line to take over the Veterans Affairs Committee — a prominent perch to investigate and diagnose the VA’s substantial ills.
Longtime Isakson political adviser Heath Garrett briefly dropped by Kingston’s party on Tuesday. He said he is already putting the pieces together for Isakson’s re-election race in 2016, which kicks into gear as soon as this fall’s midterms are done.
IN FOCUS
U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, and a couple of fellow House Democrats introduced a bill this week that has a nice election-year, self-flagellation ring to it: preventing members of Congress from receiving a taxpayer subsidy for their health insurance.
This was a big issue a year ago when the Affordable Care Act exchanges debuted and members of Congress and staff were booted from the federal employee health benefit plan into the exchanges, but they still got the feds to subsidize them — as many employers do.
Barrow's legislation, unlike proposals by Republican U.S. Rep. Gingrey of Marietta and others, spares the staff. Newer members who weren't around for the passage of Obamacare are exempt, too.
It also gives Barrow a timely chance to remind voters that he has never accepted the federal subsidy for his health coverage and pays out of pocket. The Blue Dog Democrat once again has a stiff challenge in his Republican-leaning district.
VOTE OF THE WEEK
HR 4935 — A bill designed to allow more families with higher incomes to collect the child tax credit and increasing its $1,000 value along with consumer prices. Democrats objected because it does not stop the credit from expiring for many low-income families in 2018, the result of a previous law. Passed, 237-173.
Yes — Barrow (D), Bishop (D), Broun (R), Collins (R), Graves (R), Price (R), A. Scott (R), Westmoreland (R), Woodall (R)
No — Lewis (D), Johnson (D), D. Scott (D)
Not voting — Gingrey (R), Kingston (R)
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