Republican Representative David Jenkins, has served in the Georgia House of Representatives since his initial election in 2020. Representative Jenkins has served honorably in the United States Army, and today serves the citizens of the State of Georgia as a life-flight helicopter pilot. Representative Jenkins has supported several measures that received broad bipartisan approval, and which the Troup County Democrats have supported whole-heartedly. He voted for the 2022 Mental Health Parity Act, which strengthened requirements for mental-health insurance coverage, and supported legislation providing income-tax refunds and expanded child and childcare tax credits. Representative Jenkins also sponsored legal-notice reforms in HB 254 (2023) that earned him a Legislative Service Award from the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, and airport-safety legislation that has helped communities surrounding and services by airports benefit from the air traffic they receive without impeding or interfering with residents and businesses.
Unfortunately, Representative Jenkins has also been an avid supporter of legislation embracing the far right culture-war, unfounded election fraud claims from President Donald Trump, and legislation that makes it harder for the average working Georgian to be successful in this State. The Troup County Democrats respect Representative Jenkins for his service to our Country and to our State, but we fear that the Representative is not standing up for the people of Troup County when it matters most. We call on Representative Jenkins to be better, his track record proves that he is a man of quality and integrity, but the people of Troup County will replace him if he does not bring that quality and integrity into every piece of legislation he supports.
Representative Jenkins has supported legislation that perpetuates unfounded election integrity claims, including Georgia’s 2021 election-law overhaul, which voting-rights organizations have challenged as preventing many Georgians from reaching the polls. The State of Georgia made history in 2020 by standing up to then President Donald J. Trump’s baseless accusation of electoral mismanagement in the State, legislation like this retroactively weakens Georgia’s image while also making it harder for Georgia’s most vulnerable citizens to vote.
Representative Jenkins supported legislation that has, likely unintentionally, harmed Georgia’s public Schools. The “Georgia Promise Scholarship” program, which supporters welcomed as expanding educational choice, redirected public school resources toward private education. The benefits of this legislation were felt by a small class of Georgia’s wealthiest citizens, but came at the cost of quality education for the rest of the State’s people when public education is at a historical low in quality and effectiveness.
Representative Jenkins supported the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which made it harder for the State of Georgia and its local governments to protect individuals from religious discrimination. While this bill was intended to broaden the religious protections enjoyed by Georgians, some legal scholars argue it actually restricts religious freedom and pushes more Georgians to follow the beliefs of a religious majority, whether or not they follow the same religion or are part of the same religious denomination. The Troup County Democrats support repealing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, however recent developments with the United States Supreme Court would make such action moot. The Troup County Democrats support any efforts to restore the longstanding legal precedent surrounding Religious Freedom that has allowed the United States to stand strong for generations.
Representative Jenkins supported the 2025 tort-reform law, which business organizations celebrated while trial lawyers and advocates for survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking warned that it could weaken accountability and access to compensation. The Tort-Reform Law was intended to protect businesses from frivolous law suits, but in reality, it makes it harder for normal individuals with completely valid and reasonable legal challenges to successfully sue large corporations. The Tort-Reform Law was an extreme measure passed using relatively few and extreme examples of individuals recovering large amounts of money in suits that appear ridiculous on the surface, without acknowledging the fact that our legal system already accounts for the possibility of such outcomes and businesses already had legal recourse to avoid paying ridiculous remedies. Proponents argue it would lower insurance costs across the board, and while rates have dropped somewhat, families across Georgia have yet to feel the benefit the Legislature promised when it traded their negotiating power for injuries. The Troup County Democrats support repealing the Tort-Reform Law.
