ATLANTA (AP) – The most powerful Republican in Georgia’s state Senate will seek the presiding role of lieutenant governor in 2022.
Butch Miller of Gainesville, who has been Senate president pro tem since 2018, said on Tuesday he will seek the GOP nomination for the statewide post.
“I want to protect the conservative policies and conservative values that are clearly working for Georgia,” Miller said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
As president pro tem, Miller is the elected leader of the Senate Republican majority and is in some ways more powerful than current Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan. The 64-year-old Miller had said he would not challenge Duncan if the incumbent sought a second term. But Duncan announced this month that he’ll leave office after this term to lead GOP 2.0, a group intended to remake the Republican party in the post-Trump era.
Duncan’s vocal defense of Georgia’s election results brought him into deep disfavor with former President Donald Trump and many Republican activists. Miller, meanwhile, said he counts Georgia’s election law imposing new restrictions on voting among his top accomplishments in the Senate. At one point in the debate over election changes, Duncan refused to preside, with Miller instead taking over.