U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde is the sole Georgia Republican to oppose Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker. He’s also a key beneficiary of McCarthy’s recent financial support.
Three GOP officials say that McCarthy flew to Georgia in October and held a private fundraiser for Clyde in Buckhead. One attendee said that Clyde kept the event “very hush” to avoid backlash from conservative hardliners.
Federal disclosure reports show that Clyde also created the “Carrier PAC” in September, a joint fundraising committee with the National Republican Campaign Committee, the McCarthy-aligned House GOP campaign arm.
The PAC raised the bulk of its $225,000 in donations between late September and Oct. 18 of 2022, including a $25,000 contribution from Kelly Loeffler. As a joint committee, Carrier PAC is not subject to the same individual contribution limits as Clyde’s House campaign account.
Clyde, whose office didn’t comment on the McCarthy event, was among the 20 GOP lawmakers who opposed McCarthy through five more House votes on Thursday, a narrow conservative bloc that has deprived McCarthy of the speaker’s gavel.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a key McCarthy ally, said that Clyde was effusive in his praise for the GOP leader during another fundraiser for House candidate Chris West, held shortly before the midterm.
He even referred to him as Speaker McCarthy, she said. She noted that McCarthy’s political committee also donated to Clyde during both his campaigns.
“I think it’s a bad look,” she told our insider Tia Mitchell. “I don’t think that’s right.”
Although Clyde has appeared to have had a cordial working relationship with McCarthy, he rarely aligned himself with the Republican leader publicly.
In the months leading up to the speaker vote, Clyde would not say whether he would support McCarthy. But he was among the group of nine conservatives who wrote to McCarthy on Sunday saying his promises to reform the chamber were “insufficient” to win their commitments.
Since Tuesday, Clyde has voted against McCarthy during each of the 11 rounds.
The House adjourned around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, with a plan to return today at noon. And immediately reporters began to share leaked updates that a deal was being ironed out that could give McCarthy a path to victory.
Clyde has said he’s involved in the negotiations but has refused to discuss specifics. A Washington Post photographer took snaps Thursday evening of Clyde and other GOP members meeting in Whip Tom Emmers’ office.
House Republican lawmakers huddle in a conference room trying to agree on a deal during the 10th failed Speaker vote on Capitol Hill this evening. pic.twitter.com/duLTbXGjze
— Jabin Botsford (@jabinbotsford) January 6, 2023
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LISTEN UP. It’s time for the Friday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, when we’re talking about — what else — the House speaker drama in Washington, including the members of the Georgia delegation at the center of the historic standoff.
We’re also previewing next week’s General Assembly opener, taking questions from our listener mail bag, and awarding the coveted who’s up and who’s down designations for the week.
Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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FLIGHT RISK. If House Republicans fail to find a breakthrough to their speaker impasse today, don’t look for a full House over the weekend, since no fewer than four GOP members have alerted the whip team they have family events and even medical procedures already on the calendar and won’t be voting.
If the action bleeds into Monday, at least one member of the Georgia delegation, who asked to remain anonymous, has plans to travel to California for the College Football Playoff championship game to cheer for the Dawgs against TCU.
It would be nearly impossible to catch a commercial flight from one coast to another after votes and still make it to the game by kickoff. But would lawmakers in either party be willing to skip out on their legislative duties given the slim majority?
Fans of the Bulldogs and Horned Frogs in the House are hoping the speaker’s race is resolved before Monday so they aren’t forced to choose.
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JUMPING SHIP. Kevin McCarthy has so far been able to hold his 200-plus Republican member coalition together on Capitol Hill. But Lee Raudonis, a former executive director of the Georgia GOP, says he’s done with the party until it purges its most extreme elements. In an commentary running in today’s AJC, Raudonis writes:
(This year) I have made only one resolution — never, ever again will I vote for a Republican candidate for anything until the Grand Old Party — that I once enthusiastically supported — has succeeded in purging the MAGA craziness from the party.
The current Republican Party is a disaster. Its “big tent" of members is more accurately described as a circus tent containing two rings — a right ring where members seem content to hear no evil and see no evil, and a far-right ring where the party clowns perform. And of course there are frequent high-wire acts featuring party leaders attempting to keep from falling while being taunted by the clowns below.
The failed attempt to elect a Speaker of the U.S. House on January 3rd and 4th clearly demonstrates the increasing influence of the far-right MAGA ring of the circus. Today's GOP is such a mess that it will take a lot of evidence to convince me that the MAGA elements have been purged.
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KEY EXTENSION. The Democratic National Committee is giving state Democrats more time to hash out their proposal to move the presidential primary earlier in the 2024 calendar.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Party leaders say the extension past yesterday’s deadline will give them more time to make the case that Georgia should join South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire as early-voting states. New Hampshire is also getting more time to make a deal.
“We expected both the New Hampshire and Georgia efforts to be complicated but well worth the effort if we can get them done,” wrote the two co-chairs of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.
Any calendar shakeup in Georgia would require approval from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. But the effort was dealt a blow earlier this week when Gov. Brian Kemp announced his opposition.
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JAN. 6 ANNIVERSARY. Two former Fulton County election workers who were falsely accused by former President Donald Trump of ballot fraud after the 2020 election will be honored by President Joe Biden during a White House ceremony marking two years since insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Biden plans to award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, along with 10 other law enforcement officers, election workers, and state and local officials. The designation is awarded to individuals who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens” and is considered the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.
Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, a Georgia native, is also among the honorees. She was the first officer injured when the Capitol was breached on Jan. 6, 2021.
Members of the U.S. House will also pause this morning for a ceremony on the steps of the Capitol to mark the two years since the building was attacked by supporters of President Donald Trump.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House will host a bipartisan commemoration of the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots. It will then go into session at noon for a 12th round of voting to select its next speaker.
- The Senate is in a two-week recess.
- President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medals.
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STORM DAMAGE. State officials reported that at least four government buildings in downtown Atlanta were damaged by the arctic blast that sent temperatures plunging during the holiday break.
Though officials are still working with contractors on the final cost estimates, the Georgia Building Authority estimates the total insurance claim for the damage will be around $300,000.
Staffers worked through the Christmas break to deal with burst pipes and flooding, and all the buildings were opened after the holiday weekend.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT: Incoming state Sen. Nabilah Islam appointed Andrew Aydin, a former deputy of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, to be her top aide. But Aydin will bring more than the average “excellent written communications skills” requested in most job announcements.
He co-authored Lewis’ graphic novel trilogy, ”March,”, along with the civil rights icon. The trilogy won the National Book Award and went to #1 on the New York Times best-seller list.
In other Georgia moves, Amy Odom and Chuck McMullen have started the MCO lobbying firm. Their clients include Microsoft, Wynn Resorts, Anheuser-Busch and Wellstar.
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UNEXPECTED. They couldn’t be more opposite politically, but that didn’t stop U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from pausing to greet the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the halls of the Capitol this week.
Jackson has been on Capitol Hill to support his son, Jonathan Jackson, a newly elected representative from Illinois.
A journalist happened to be nearby and snapped a photo of Greene shaking Jackson’s hand Thursday.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday: The Reverend Jesse Jackson talking with @RepMTG. Jesse is there because his son Jonathan is being sworn in as a member. @aoc passed by and I said there’s something you don’t see everyday. pic.twitter.com/1I6g11bDdt
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) January 6, 2023
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BEST LIFE. One Georgia politico who knows he’ll be in L.A. for the Bulldogs this weekend is outgoing state House Appropriations Chairman Terry England.
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
We caught up with England earlier this week and asked if he was busy wrapping up loose ends on the famously busy committee.
“Oh no,” he said with a laugh. “I’m getting ready to go to Los Angeles for a football game. I’m going to watch it and not worry about being in a hurry to get back on Tuesday, or get back on Monday to turn around and go back on Tuesday, as some are going to do.”
England skipped last year’s National Championship game because of looming budget hearings the following week. Having passed the Appropriations torch to incoming chairman, Matt Hatchett, England said his work is done.
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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.
