ATLANTA — Most top Georgia Republicans were silent or supportive of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she was stripped of committee assignments for her history of bigoted comments and promotion of violent conspiracy theories.
But some state GOP figures are actively trying to minimize the freshman congresswoman’s influence on Georgia’s Republican Party amid fears that she could weigh down the ticket in 2022 when she’s up for another term — or potentially takes a shot at statewide office.
A small but growing number of high-profile Republicans are speaking out against her behavior, which includes making racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic remarks; endorsing the execution of high-profile Democrats; and her past embracing of the deranged QAnon theory.
Some Republicans want lawmakers to redraw her district later this year to make her reelection more challenging and to shift the party’s attention toward more conventional conservative principles. And her former opponent, Rome neurosurgeon John Cowan, is weighing a 2022 rematch.
“I’ll put it in simple terms: Rep. Greene is an embarrassment to Georgia,” said state Rep. Bert Reeves, a Republican who represents a competitive Cobb County district. “She is the face of radical political extremism, and we don’t need that distraction.”