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Jan Jones (Georgia politician)

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Jan Jones
Speaker Pro-Tempore of the Georgia House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 11, 2010
Preceded byMark Burkhalter
Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives
In office
November 16, 2022 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byDavid Ralston
Succeeded byJon G. Burns
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 13, 2003
Preceded byRoger Hines
Constituency38th district (2003–2005)
46th district (2005–2013)
47th district (2013–present)
Personal details
Born (1958-01-28) January 28, 1958 (age 66)
Warner Robins, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKalin Jones
Children4
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BA)
Georgia State University (MBA)

Jan Slaughter Jones (born January 28, 1958) is an American politician in Georgia. A Republican, she has been a member of the Georgia House of Representatives since 2003, and was acting Speaker of the House from November 2022 to January 2023 following the death of former Speaker David Ralston. Jones serves as Speaker pro tempore of the House, a position she has held continuously since 2010 with the exception of her brief stint as acting Speaker. She is the state representative for Georgia's 47th House district, which covers some of the northern Atlanta suburbs, including parts of Milton, Roswell, Alpharetta, Mountain Park, and unincorporated Cherokee County.

Early life, education, and family

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Jones was born in Warner Robins, Georgia. She is the granddaughter of two Laurens County, Georgia farmers and the daughter of a career soldier. She graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia.[1] She later received an M.B.A. from Georgia State University. She is a former marketing manager for HBO.

Georgia House of Representatives

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Early tenure (2003–2009)

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Jones was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2002, taking office on January 13, 2003. In the 2005-2006 legislative session, she briefly served as the House Republican Majority Whip.

Jones is currently the state representative for Georgia's 47th House district, which covers some of the northern Atlanta suburbs (including parts of North Fulton County, such as Milton, Mountain Park, Alpharetta, and Roswell, as well as a portion of unincorporated eastern Cherokee County).[2]

Jones' district became more heavily Republican in 2021, during the redistricting cycle; starting in the 2022 elections, her district took in a part of Cherokee County, shifting her district from one that voted 53.4% for Donald Trump in 2020 to one that voted 57% for Trump in 2020.[3]

Speaker pro tempore (2010–present)

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In January 2010, Jones was elected speaker pro tempore of the Georgia House (the second-highest leadership position in the chamber), becoming the first female to serve in the role and the highest-ranking woman in Georgia legislative history.[1][4]

In 2014, Jones supported legislation to block Medicaid expansion in Georgia.[5]

In 2016, Governor Nathan Deal and others encouraged Jones to seek the Republican nomination in the 2017 Georgia's 6th congressional district special election, for the U.S. House of Representatives seat vacated by Tom Price. Jones declined to run.[6]

In 2019, after Republican U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson announced his intent to resign from the Senate, Jones was one of many well-known Republican applicants who sought an appointment to fill the vacancy (others included Price, Jack Kingston, and Randy Evans). Governor Brian Kemp ultimately chose Kelly Loeffler to fill the vacancy.[7]

In early 2020, Jones opposed legislation to ban books in schools deemed "obscene"; the proposal targeted various works that address issues of race and gender, such as Toni Morrison's novel Beloved and Maia Kobabe's memoir and graphic novel Gender Queer. In late 2021, however, Jones reversed positions, backing an "anti-obscenity" bill similar to the one she had previously opposed.[8][9]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Jones supported a controversial effort to change Georgia's election laws. Critics deemed the Georgia election legislation an effort to restrict voting rights (see Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election).[10] Jones was later involved in efforts to initiate a performance review of local election officials in Fulton County (a heavily Democratic county), which could later be used to remove the election officials.[11] Trump and his Republican allies targeted Fulton County when they were making false claims of fraud.[11]

In November 2022, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston died in office.[12] Jones was temporarily elevated to speaker following Ralston's death, becoming the first female speaker of the Georgia House.[12][13] Jones decided not to seek to run in the November 2022 Republican caucus election for speaker; she chose, along with the rest of Ralston's Republican leadership team, to support Majority Leader Jon G. Burns's bid for speaker.[13][14] Jones instead chose to seek reelection as president pro tem.[14]

Jones is a longtime school voucher proponent, and was leading figure supporting a push in the 2023 legislative session to give $6,500 per student in state-funded vouchers for private school tuition and homeschooling;[15] students zoned for public schools scoring in the lowest 25% would be eligible.[16] The proposed program would cost $110 million, if 1% of Georgia public school students participated.[16] The bill was supported by conservative advocacy groups, such as the right-wing groups such as Americans for Prosperity and opposed by public education groups and teachers' organizations.[17][18] The bill stalled in March 2023, with the House voting 95–70 to table it;[16] an amended version of the bill also later failed, 85–89, in the final hours of the session, after more than a dozen Republican representatives (mostly representing rural districts) joined almost all Democrats in voting against it.[17][18]

Personal life

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Jones and her husband, Kalin, have four children. They reside in Milton, Georgia.

References

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  1. ^ a b Tharpe, Jim (January 18, 2022). "Jan Jones could bring big changes to Georgia House". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  2. ^ "Representative Jan Jones". www.house.ga.gov.
  3. ^ Ross Williams, GOP lawmakers stake out wins in Atlanta suburbs as state-level redistricting wraps, Georgia Public Radio (November 16, 2021).
  4. ^ Sturgeon, Kathleen (October 1, 2019). "House Speaker Pro Tem Jones Applies For U.S. Senate Appointment". Alpharetta-Milton, GA Patch. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Andy Miller, Georgia House committee passes bill to block Medicaid expansion, Athens Banner-Herald (February 25, 2014).
  6. ^ Greg Bluestein, Jan Jones, the No. 2 in Georgia House, won't run for Tom Price's seat, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 6, 2016).
  7. ^ Greg Bluestein, Inside how Kemp picked Loeffler for the U.S. Senate, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 5, 2019).
  8. ^ Greg Bluestein, Georgia GOP leader backs 'obscenity' legislation that echoes what she once opposed, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 7, 2021).
  9. ^ Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein & Tia Mitchell, The Jolt: Book ban battle headed for Georgia General Assembly, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 7, 2021).
  10. ^ Service, Beau Evans Capitol Beat News (April 21, 2021). "Controversial Georgia election laws tackled in U.S. Senate hearing". Albany Herald. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Fredreka Schouten and Dianne Gallagher (July 30, 2021). "Georgia Republicans inch closer to a takeover of elections in state's largest county". CNN. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  12. ^ a b Nunez, Gabriella (November 16, 2022). "Georgia House speaker David Ralston dies". WXIA-TV. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein & Tia Mitchell, The Jolt: State House Republicans to pick Ralston successor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (November 14, 2022).
  14. ^ a b Jeff Amy, Some candidates drop out, endorse Burns as Georgia speaker, Associated Press (November 10, 2022).
  15. ^ Jeff Amy, Bill for $6,500 vouchers creeps toward Georgia House passage, Associated Press (March 21, 2023).
  16. ^ a b c Jeff Amy, $6,500 school vouchers bill stalls in Georgia House, Associated Press (March 23, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Ross Williams, School voucher bill fails, public dollars for private schools non-starter in state House, Georgia Recorder (March 30, 2023).
  18. ^ a b Kristal Dixon & Emma Hurt, School voucher bill defeated amid rural Republican opposition, Axios Atlanta (March 30, 2023).
[edit]
Georgia House of Representatives
Preceded by
Roger Hines
 Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 38th district
2003–2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 46th district
2005–2013 		Succeeded by
John Carson
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 47th district
2013–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Speaker pro tempore of the Georgia House of Representatives
2010–present
Political offices
Preceded by Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives
Acting
2022–2023 		Succeeded by
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