(left) white man standing at podium with navy jacket and blue tie. (right) white man with short white hair with grey jacket, red tie.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (left) addresses a joint session of the Georgia General Assembly with House Speaker David Ralston to host the annual State of the Judiciary speech on Feb. 8, 2022, in this screenshot. (Georgia General Assembly)

Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan presided over his last scheduled joint session of the House and the Senate Tuesday for the State of the Judiciary address. He announced last year that he will not be running for reelection. 

Duncan, a Republican from Cumming, Georgia, introduced Georgia’s Supreme Court Chief Justice David Nahmias, other state Supreme Court justices and other statewide elected officials attending the State of the Judiciary address. The annual speech is given by the chief justice to update the General Assembly on the state’s judicial branch. 

Before winning the lieutenant governor election in 2018, Duncan served in the state House from 2013 to 2017 under House Speaker David Ralston. 

“We raised him for greatness, and he went on and attained it,” Ralston said when he introduced the lieutenant governor. “I have enjoyed working with you. I admire the courage of your convictions.”

Duncan thanked Ralston for his friendship and said, “I’ll remember so many conversations, so many relationships, so many life lessons learned inside this chamber for myself and my family.” 

After breaking with the Republican party in his public condemnation of former President Donald Trump’s accusations of election fraud, Duncan came under fire from some Republicans, including Trump, and decided not to run for reelection. 

In 2021, he founded the nonprofit GOP 2.0 to create “better policy, empathy, and tone within the Republican party” and also released his book, “GOP 2.0,” in which he discusses “a better direction for our Republican party.” 

Duncan is Georgia’s 12th lieutenant governor and will not be running for any political office this election cycle after 10 years of total service.


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