House elects pro tem, clerk and doorkeeper; approves joint-session invitations and 40‑day schedule

On the first day of the 2025 session the Georgia House completed several organizational votes: the chamber elected Representative Jan Jones as speaker pro tempore, re‑elected Bill Riley as clerk, and chose Cory Mulkey as doorkeeper and Betsy Theroux as messenger. The House also adopted joint‑session resolutions to invite the governor and the judiciary and approved a 40‑day calendar adopted via Senate Resolution 6.

Election outcomes and vote tallies

- Speaker pro tempore: Representative Jan Jones was nominated by Representative Shaw Blackmon and seconded by Representative Stan Guenther. The House recorded 158 yeas and 19 nays; Jones was declared elected speaker pro tempore for the 2025–2026 term.

- Clerk of the House: Bill Riley was nominated and seconded; the deputy clerk cast the unanimous vote of the membership present and Riley was declared elected clerk for 2025–2026.

- Doorkeeper: Cory Mulkey was nominated and seconded and was declared elected doorkeeper by the clerk casting the unanimous vote of members present.

- Messenger: Betsy Theroux was nominated and seconded and was declared elected messenger by the clerk casting the unanimous vote of members present.

Resolutions and schedule

- House Resolution 4: The House adopted House Resolution 4 to call a joint session with the Senate to hear the governor’s state‑of‑the‑state address.

- House Resolution 5: The House adopted House Resolution 5 to invite the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and other justices and Court of Appeals judges to a joint session for the state of the judiciary; the majority leader said the session would be at 11 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2025.

- Senate Resolution 6 (Adjournment/Schedule): The House adopted the Senate’s adjournment resolution (Senate Resolution 6) providing a 40‑day legislative calendar. Leadership presented a schedule with specific committee days, crossover date and holidays; the calendar sets crossover for March 6 and designates April 4 as the 40th day.

Why it matters: These organizational votes finalize the chamber’s leadership team and set the session calendar, both of which shape floor priorities and committee work for the remainder of the session. The joint‑session invitations set dates for the governor’s state‑of‑the‑state address and a state‑of‑the‑judiciary presentation.

Speakers and nominators recorded in the proceedings included Representative Shaw Blackmon (nomination for pro tem), Representative Stan Guenther (second), Majority Leader (mover for unanimous votes), and others listed on the record. The clerk recorded the vote totals for contested items and cast the membership ballot where the chair directed a single vote for office elections.

Provenance: The officer elections and resolution adoptions are recorded in the official House transcript from the January 13, 2025 convening. Vote tallies (where recorded) are included in the chamber’s statements.