Help Wanted: Senate Pro Tem
State Senator John F. Kennedy has made it official and has filed paperwork with the State Ethics Commission to run for the Republican Nomination for Lieutenant Governor. Kennedy, up until the moment he filed, was serving as the President Pro Tem of the Senate, which a position of great importance and prestige.
I wrote up until that moment, because the Senate passed rules this year that read thusly:
(f) In the event the President Pro Tempore publicly announces an intention to run for an elected office other than his or her State Senate seat, files a declaration of intention to accept campaign contributions for such office, or qualifies to run for such office, the office of the President Pro Tempore shall be deemed vacant and the Secretary of the Senate shall assume the administrative duties of the office of President Pro Tempore until the next convening of the Senate, at which time the Senate shall elect from among its members a new President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
Members of the Senate have told Peach Pundit that erstwhile Pro Tem Butch Miller’s decision to stay in that role left the impression that he was leveraging his role as Pro Tem to support his candidacy for LG. So the Senate passed these rule to avoid that scenario moving forward.
Something to keep in mind here, there is a difference between caucus rules, which govern just the members of one party, and Senate rules, which govern how the whole body operates.
We are told that the duties for Pro Tem will now fall on Senate Secretary, Jack Tripp, who is still fairly new to the job, until the full Senate reconvenes next. Currently that is scheduled for 2026 unless there is a special called session of the General Assembly. The GOP Caucus, no, not you Colton, will likely meet in the near future to take a caucus position that will essentially be an election for the position. However that person would not officially take on the role until a vote of the full Senate.
Separately, a similar scenario is already unfolding for the role of Majority Leader, which is governed by caucus rules. Caucus Chair Jason Anavitarte had 10 days from Steve Gooch’s announced candidacy for LG to call a special election for a new Majority Leader that must take place in the next 30 days. It is not unreasonable to speculate that the caucus would take this opportunity to deal with both at the same time, although there is nothing in the caucus rules that requires the Pro Tem position be voted on at the same time or at all this year.
Will this create extra drama? Oh, you can bet on it. Oops, no you can’t actually, gambling is still illegal in Georgia. But if you could, you’d win. One member, with an eye toward the coming caucus meeting to deal with these issues tells us, “I hear it’s going to get weird…”
Well, at least from the perspective of this former House member, the Senate is being consistent.
