NASHVILLE – State Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, says he intends to run next year for the House’s No. 1 post should Republicans maintain their majority in November elections.
“If we are still in the majority after Election Day, I plan on running for the Republican Caucus nomination for Speaker of the House,” the Chattanooga businessman told GOP colleagues in a letter.
Rep. McCormick, now the assistant Republican leader, said the GOP’s “first priority” in 2010 elections must be to “pick up some seats in order to increase our majority in November and I plan to work hard this summer and fall to raise and distribute money to help our candidates across the state as well as contributing to the Caucus Campaign Committee.
“I understand what kind of leadership we must have moving forward as a governing caucus,” he said. “We need to stick to our common-sense conservative principles and show the people that we deserve to govern.”
Republicans won a 50-49 majority over Democrats in 2008 elections only to see total control elude them when Rep. Kent Williams, R-Elizabethton, joined with the 49 Democrats to elect himself speaker over Republican Majority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol.