Threats and Political Turmoil
Georgia Republican Congressman Drew Ferguson has announced that he will not seek re-election at the end of his fourth term. This decision comes after Ferguson and his family received death threats amid the inner turmoil faced by Republicans in electing a new House speaker following the removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.
Opposition to ‘Bully’ Speaker
The threats were a result of Ferguson publicly withdrawing his support for GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a favorite among hard-right conservatives, for House speaker. Ferguson firmly stated that he refused to support “a bully” and deemed the threats he received as “unacceptable, unforgivable, and will never be tolerated.”
A History of Political Service
Ferguson, a former mayor of West Point, was elected in 2016 to represent Georgia’s 3rd District, which stretches along the Georgia-Alabama state line. He held a prominent role in the House GOP leadership as the chief deputy whip from 2018 to 2022 and served on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
Safe Republican District
Ferguson’s 3rd District seat is solidly Republican, as evidenced by his easy victory over a GOP primary challenger last year and his subsequent reelection with 69% of the vote. Recent redrawing of Georgia’s congressional map, ordered by a federal judge, aimed to add a majority-Black district. However, the map proposed by the Republican majority in the state Legislature seeks to maintain the GOP’s 9-5 hold on the state’s U.S. House delegation and protect Republican incumbents. The court’s approval for this map is still pending.