Friday on Political Rewind: Blue Ridge Republican David Ralston has just finished presiding over yet another session as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. It’s a position that makes him a lightning rod for controversy, such as election measures passed in the just-ended session.

But during his tenure, Ralston has also earned praise for his efforts to bat down bills opponents have sometimes called extreme and anti-democratic. As the 2021 session came to an end, he pointed with pride to the overhaul of the citizens arrest law and increasing funds for the state’s mental health budget. He also squashed efforts to expand Georgia gun laws and rejected an effort to punish Delta Air Lines for the company’s condemnation of the election law.

It is the election law that will likely be the legacy of the 2021 session. That’s just one of the issues the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Patricia Murphy and I discussed with Ralston.

Panelists:

Rep. David Ralston — Speaker of the Georgia House (R-Blue Ridge)

Patricia Murphy —- Political Reporter and Columnist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution