Georgia Senate Republicans keep John Kennedy as leader for next 2 years

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia state Senate Republicans will stick with their same leadership team.

After an election where every incumbent who was running won another term, majority Senate Republicans gathered behind closed doors Thursday to choose their leaders for the next two years.

They again nominated Sen. John Kennedy of Macon for president pro tem, the second-ranking member of the chamber. The full Senate will vote on the post when it convenes for a new term on Jan. 13. With Republicans retaining the same 33-23 majority as the last term, Kennedy is likely to win that vote.

After the vote, Kennedy reaffirmed that the Senate Republican Caucus will maintain close links with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a fellow Republican and former state senator.

The majority has let Jones assign senators to committees, name committee chairmen and assign legislation to committees. Those powers, along with presiding over debate in the Senate, help a lieutenant governor shape legislation. Lawmakers took back some or all of those powers in 2003, when a Republican majority wanted to curb Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, and in 2010, when GOP senators were unhappy with fellow Republican Casey Cagle.

Kennedy said Senate Republicans are “largely simpatico on everything” with Jones, who could run for governor in 2026.

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“And that produces a really good working relationship, where there’s sincere and valued credibility when we come to the table to talk about what should legislation look like and how should it move forward,” Kennedy said. “So I think what you’re seeing is not anyone ceding power to the lieutenant governor. It’s just a good working relationship.”

Senate Democrats will meet Friday in Savannah to choose a new leader after Gloria Butler of Stone Mountain announced she would retire.

Majority House Republicans are likely to renominate Jon Burns of Newington as speaker next week, while House Democrats must choose a new minority leader.

Kennedy said Thursday he wants to see continued tax relief, saying it gives people a break from higher costs at a time when Georgia’s government has $11 billion in the bank.

“If we can return that to them and still provide the government services and do what we need to do up here, that’s always a good option to send it back to the people that work hard for it in the first place,” Kennedy said.

He also said he wants lawmakers to search for solutions to students who are frequently absent from school, a problem that has lingered since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican senators also kept the rest of their officer slate the same: Steve Gooch of Dahlonega as majority leader, Jason Anavitarte of Dallas as majority caucus chair, Randy Robertson of Cataula as whip, Matt Brass of Newnan as vice caucus chairman and Larry Walker III of Perry as secretary.