Democratic State Representative Vernon Jones has an interesting political career. I won’t recount the interesting past of Jones in DeKalb politics–George Chidi has a number of articles that you can find here on GeorgiaPol if you want background. In fact, he’s been a source of writing material for #gapol over the years.
Representative Jones has been a thorn in the side of Democrats due to questionable actions and ethics while in office, and Republicans have eaten popcorn while watching the Democrats deal with the Jones political hot potato.
Jones’ political obituary has been written time and time again, but some how some way, he finds his way back into the Georgia political spotlight. This year, he got off the Democratic train and hopped on the #TrumpTrain with an endorsement of President Donald Trump back in April.
That endorsement followed with an announcement that he wasn’t running for reelection *and* resigning from office—and then a retraction of the resignation. Though, I do wonder if the announcement of not running for reelection was in light of a complaint challenging his candidacy qualifications more than his conventions.
Jones has been quickly elevated in Republican circles both here in Georgia and in the RNC. He earned a speaking slot at the 2020 Republican National Convention, and now he’s been working the Republican circuit here in Georgia as a featured guest with county GOPs and now as a speaker of the Georgia Republican Party’s Foundation Breakfast on Friday.
I’ve generally been an advocate of having the GOP as a “Big Tent” party–though, that seems to have changed in the 2010s and into the Age of Trumpism where you must pledge loyalty to Donald Trump in order to have standing within the Party. The sudden elevation of Vernon Jones within the Georgia Republican Party should make Georgia Republicans take pause. We know Jones’ background–why are we promoting him as a standard bearer or thought leader?
Jones’ relevance in the DPG has evaporated, so his sudden jump to the #TrumpTrain seems to be more out of political expediency to stay relevant. This whole transformation reeks of grifting than wanting to walk away from the Democratic Party into the Republican Party–and the Georgia Republican Party is apparently okay with that.