Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) might run for the U.S. Senate next year, although he said he hasn’t decided for certain.
Ralston appeared on Georgia Public Broadcasting late last week and praised U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ralston also said the country’s current direction troubles him. If he does serve in the U.S. Senate then he said his tenure as Georgia Speaker of the House will help guide him.
“We knew a year or two ago that we had people in [Georgia House] districts who were vulnerable and who we had to protect. We pushed a non-traditional Republican agenda, and it proved to be very very successful. We pushed a bipartisan vote. We passed the Hate Crimes Bill. We passed paid parental leave. Any number of things we have championed proved to be very successful, and they weren’t typically the kind of issues that Republicans embrace,” Ralston said.
“I figure there are a lot of role models of senators who have served in that body from Georgia [such as] Johnny Isakson, Saxby Chambliss, and Sam Nunn. There are other distinguished senators like my friend Lamar Alexander, who retired from Tennessee. They were just looking to solve problems and looking to build consensus, and that is the path I have always tried to follow.”
Former State Rep. Jeff Jones said in March that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce influences Ralston’s agenda as speaker, even though that agenda favors large corporate entities and sometimes frustrates average Georgians’ best interests. Jones said “the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is not the friend of the average Georgia citizen.”
“Here lies one of the fundamental problems with the Georgia House side is [that] so many members are more interested in being on the inside [and] being under the good graces of Speaker Ralston, getting their committee chairmanships, and being included on the inside of the power structure, more so than they are interested in doing the right thing by the people in their districts here in Georgia,” Jones said.
At the time, members of Ralston’s staff did not return requests for comment.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested in March that Georgia native and Heisman Trophy winner Hershel Walker represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. The former NFL player often uses social media to express right-of-center beliefs.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
