Drew Ferguson (politician)

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Drew Ferguson
Drew Ferguson 115th Congress 2.jpeg
House Republican Chief Deputy Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2019
LeaderKevin McCarthy
Preceded byPatrick McHenry
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Preceded byLynn Westmoreland
Personal details
Born (1966-11-15) November 15, 1966 (age 54)
Langdale, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Divorced
Children4
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BS)
Augusta University (DMD)
WebsiteHouse website

Anderson Drew Ferguson IV[1] (born November 15, 1966) is an American politician who is the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 3rd congressional district. The district stretches from the southern suburbs of Atlanta to the northern suburbs of Columbus, including a sliver of Columbus itself.

A Republican, he previously served as the mayor of West Point, Georgia, a city located between LaGrange and Columbus.

Early life and education[]

Ferguson was born in Langdale, Alabama in 1966[2] and graduated from the University of Georgia, and the Medical College of Georgia.[3]

Career prior to Congress[]

Ferguson was a dentist with a family dental practice.[4] He served as an alderman for West Point, Georgia, and then as mayor of that city from 2008 through 2016. He resigned in 2016 to focus on his race for the House of Representatives.

U.S. House of Representatives[]

Elections[]

2016[]

In 2016, Ferguson ran for the Georgia third district seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Lynn Westmoreland. He placed in the top two in the May Republican primary–the real contest in this heavily Republican district–and faced State Senator Mike Crane in the runoff. The two had finished within 100 votes of each other;[5] both had about 27% of the vote.[4]

For the runoff, Ferguson had the support of business-oriented Republicans, including the retiring Westmoreland.[6] The primary and its runoff were expensive and bitterly contested GOP; Super PACs and other groups outside of Georgia spent more than $2 million on the race.[7]

On July 26, 2016, Ferguson defeated Crane with 54% of the vote.[8] In the November 2016 general election, Ferguson defeated Democratic Party nominee Angela Pendley, getting 68% of the vote.[9]

2018[]

In the May 2018 Republican primary, Ferguson faced Philip Singleton of Sharpsburg, a former Army helicopter pilot;[10] Ferguson won with 74% of the vote.[11]

In November 2018, running for re-election, Ferguson won by nearly a 2-to-1 margin over Democrat Chuck Enderlin with 191,700 votes, 66 percent of the votes cast.[12]

Tenure[]

Ferguson was sworn into office January 3, 2017.

In November 2018, after he won re-election, Ferguson was appointed as chief deputy whip for the House Republican conference by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.[13] This post is historically a stepping stone to higher posts in the House GOP. For example, future House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy once served as chief deputy whip.

Vote Smart reports that Conservative Review has given Ferguson a 55% evaluation, Americans for Prosperity has given him a lifetime evaluation of 100%, Campaign for Working Families has given him a 100% evaluation, Heritage Action Freedom Index gave him a 77% evaluation, the American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime evaluation of 93%, and the John Birch Society Freedom Index gave him a 57% evaluation.

On May 19, 2021, Ferguson and all the other seven Republican House leaders in the `117th Congress voted against establishing a National Commission to Investigate the January 6, 2021 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex to investigate the storming of the capitol. Thirty-five Republican House members and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish such a commission.[14][15]

Committee assignments[]

Caucus memberships[]

Political positions[]

Running for election in 2016, Ferguson's main issues were securing the borders, destroying the Islamic State, strengthening the military, replacing the current income tax with a flat tax, repealing Obamacare, and supporting a constitutional amendment for congressional term limits.[4] Ferguson signed on to the lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, one of four Georgian representatives to do so.[19][20] The Supreme Court dismissed the suit on December 11, 2020.[21]

Texas v. Pennsylvania[]

In December 2020, Ferguson was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed[22] over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state.[23][24][25]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded Ferguson and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions."[26][27] New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat Ferguson and the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit. Pascrell argued that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."[28] Pascrells request was denied for absence of merit and authority.

Personal life[]

Ferguson has four children.[29]

On October 30, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferguson announced that he had tested positive for the virus.[30]

References[]

  1. ^ "How KIA Came To Georgia - Georgia Trend". www.georgiatrend.com. August 2009.
  2. ^ "Guide to the New Congress" (PDF). Roll Call. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. ^ "The Citizen Q&A — West Point Mayor Ferguson seeks 3rd District seat". The Citizen (Fayette Publishing). March 16, 2016. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Leopold, Vicki (July 14, 2016). "Conservative Showdown for Congress in 3rd". Atlanta Jewish Times. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  5. ^ Hallerman, Tamar (July 26, 2016). "Chamber of Commerce-backed Drew Ferguson wins 3rd District GOP runoff". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  6. ^ Hallerman, Tamar (January 3, 2017). "Drew Ferguson sworn in as Georgia's newest member of Congress". ajc. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  7. ^ Hallerman, Tamar (July 25, 2016). "Swamping west Georgia: Groups spend $2.1 million on U.S. House race". ajc. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  8. ^ "GA - Election Results". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  9. ^ "Georgia U.S. House 3rd District Results: Drew Ferguson Wins". The New York Times. August 1, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Sones, Aaron (March 14, 2018). "Army Vet To Take On Ferguson". Gradick Communications LLC (WLLB Local News). Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  11. ^ "Georgia Primary Election Results: Third House District". The New York Times. May 29, 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  12. ^ Wright, Ben (November 6, 2018). "U.S. Reps. Bishop and Ferguson win big in re-election to Congress". Columbus Ledger-Inquirer.
  13. ^ Byrnes, Jesse (November 27, 2018). "Scalise taps Rep. Drew Ferguson to serve as House GOP deputy whip". TheHill. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  14. ^ Roll Call 154 Bill Number: H. R. 3233 117th Congress, 1st Session, United States House of Representatives, May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  15. ^ How Republicans voted on a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Washington Post, May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  16. ^ "Drew Ferguson IV, Representative for Georgia's 3rd Congressional District". GovTrack.us. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  17. ^ "Members". U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. - Japan Caucus. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  18. ^ "Member List". House of Representatives. Republican Study Committee. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  19. ^ "Most GOP U.S. House members back Texas suit casting election doubt".
  20. ^ "After Trump Loss, Georgia Republicans Attack Voting Systems They Enacted".
  21. ^ "Supreme Court rejects Texas-led lawsuit to overturn election results". December 11, 2020.
  22. ^ Blood, Michael R.; Riccardi, Nicholas (December 5, 2020). "Biden officially secures enough electors to become president". AP News. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  23. ^ Liptak, Adam (December 11, 2020). "Supreme Court Rejects Texas Suit Seeking to Subvert Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  24. ^ "Order in Pending Case" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. December 11, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  25. ^ Diaz, Daniella. "Brief from 126 Republicans supporting Texas lawsuit in Supreme Court". CNN. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  26. ^ Smith, David (December 12, 2020). "Supreme court rejects Trump-backed Texas lawsuit aiming to overturn election results". The Guardian. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  27. ^ "Pelosi Statement on Supreme Court Rejecting GOP Election Sabotage Lawsuit" (Press release). Speaker Nancy Pelosi. December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  28. ^ Williams, Jordan (December 11, 2020). "Democrat asks Pelosi to refuse to seat lawmakers supporting Trump's election challenges". TheHill. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  29. ^ Jones, Tyler H. (February 1, 2016). "Drew Ferguson to resign as West Point mayor". Lagrange News. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  30. ^ Homan, Timothy R. (October 30, 2020). "Georgia Republican Drew Ferguson tests positive for COVID-19". TheHill. Retrieved November 17, 2020.

External links[]

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Lynn Westmoreland 		Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 3rd congressional district
2017–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Patrick McHenry 		House Republican Chief Deputy Whip
2019–present 		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Adriano Espaillat 		United States representatives by seniority
261st 		Succeeded by
Brian Fitzpatrick
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