The latest effort to keep Donald Trump’s name off the 2024 presidential ballot comes in the form of a proposed Georgia law backed by Democrats that would bar anyone who’s been involved in a U.S. insurrection from running for office in the state.
State Rep. Derrick Jackson, D-Tyrone, introduced HB 1159, known as the Oath Act, on Tuesday. Jackson said keeping Trump off the ballot in Georgia is something constituents in his majority-Black district have told him they want him to pursue. Trump has been accused of spearheading the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in an effort to undo the results of the 2020 election.
“They encouraged me that this is the right thing to do,” Jackson told Capital B Atlanta a week before filing his bill.
The retired Navy officer said his legislation would simply reaffirm in state law what’s already been determined by Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment — that anyone who has engaged in an insurrection against the United States is barred from holding or even seeking an elected office in Georgia.
Jackson freely admits getting the Oath Act passed is unlikely because it would require support from Republicans, who have majority control of both state legislative chambers, and a signature from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. One GOP member of the state legislature, state Sen. Shawn Still, R-Norcross, is currently a co-defendant in the RICO case filed against the former president and 17 others in Fulton County for allegedly trying to illegally flip Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who allegedly served as one of Trump’s fake electors in 2020, is another obstacle to passage since the proposed law could disqualify Jones from serving as lieutenant governor or running for reelection due to his alleged involvement in the plot. In January, a judge determined that Jones’ alleged actions don’t bar him from serving in Georgia’s second-highest executive office behind Kemp.
As of January, authorities still haven’t assigned a special prosecutor to investigate Jones’ role in the election interference case. Jones’ office didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the Oath Act. Still’s office declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.
Jackson’s proposal could still put Georgia among the states where officials have to publicly debate and rule on Trump’s eligibility as a candidate, despite the slim chance of getting it passed.
Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled in December that the 14th Amendment prohibits Trump from running for President again and determined he can’t have his name on the state’s 2024 ballots as a result. That ruling was put on hold nine days later after the Colorado Republican Party filed an appeal.
Trump’s name was temporarily removed from the ballot in Maine after its Democratic secretary of state also found the former president’s actions following the 2020 election barred him from running for reelection there as well.
In January, Maine’s Superior Court hit pause on the secretary of state’s ruling until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on the ruling in Colorado.
Jackson said the Oath Act’s name is a reference to the oath every elected official takes when they’re sworn into office, which includes a vow to support the U.S. Constitution.
“Anyone that violates Section 3 of the 14th Amendment should not be reelected,” he said.
The Oath Act’s filing came 19 days after state Rep. Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta, introduced a resolution urging Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger not to put Trump’s name on the ballot this year.
Unlike the resolution, which was simply an expression of sentiment that applied only to Trump, the Oath Act is a potential law that would apply to anyone who engaged in an insurrection.
