This story was updated at 11:29 a.m.
Georgia Republican Congressman Austin Scott has been unsuccessful in his second bid in a month for U.S. House speaker.
Scott is one of seven Republicans now vying for the position. The House GOP is holding a closed-door vote on a nominee this morning. Scott received only 18 votes in the first round of voting and did not make it to the fourth ballot.
“I feel like there are a lot of members in our conference that have what it would take to be the speaker of the House,” Scott told reporters Monday night. “I told my colleagues if you’ll accept someone who’s honest, who’s got courage and a strong work ethic, I would love to be your speaker.”
Scott’s district covers a swath of Georgia that runs south of Macon to the Florida border.
He’s represented his home, Tifton, since he first won a state legislature seat at 26. Scott was elected to Congress in 2010.
Tifton Mayor Julie Smith has known Scott since they were kids.
“I was very surprised, but very proud when I first got the news,” she said.
Smith says Scott has championed Southwest Georgia’s farmers and military installations as a member of the Agriculture and Armed Services Committees. But she also says Scott’s level-headedness could bridge the GOP infighting.
“In my conversations with Austin over the years, we’ve both agreed, you have the 10% out to the left, 10% out to the right. It’s the other 80% most of us fall into.”
To be sure, Scott is a stalwart conservative. Georgia Democrats are slamming his bid, citing votes to take apart the Affordable Care Act and enact new abortion restrictions.
“Take it from Georgians: Austin Scott should NEVER be Speaker,” the Georgia Democratic Party wrote on X.
Scott’s announcement was also met with criticism over a 2021 stock trade.
But Scott broke with many in his party when he voted to certify the 2020 election result and expressly condemned the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, though he did support a Texas lawsuit contesting the election results in key battleground states.
As a Republican and local official, Smith says it’s been frustrating to watch the dysfunction in the House.
“What happened is we’ve sort of lost faith in government,” she says. “And that’s disappointing because our democracy is an example for the world.”
But with only a narrow majority, even far-right Republicans on the fringes have a lot of sway.
No Republicans in the Georgia delegation have endorsed Scott’s bid. Georgia Rep. Mike Collins was jokingly campaigning for the post on X, promising “parking spaces to fit up to 18 wheels,” among other platform points.
The House has been at a standstill for weeks since a small group of far-right Republicans ousted ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Georgia Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde then refused to back the party’s new nominee for speaker, Steve Scalise.
On Monday, Smith recognized that Scott’s bid may be an uphill climb, but possible?
“I just hope so,” she said.
