Tommie Williams is an American politician from the state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He is a member of the Republican Party and was first elected to the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia Ho ...

in 1998. Williams represented the 19th district, which encompassed Appling, Jeff Davis, Long, Montgomery, Toombs, Wayne, Wheeler, and parts of Liberty and Tattnall Counties. He was selected as Senate Majority Leader in 2005, and was voted President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2009. Williams announced his retirement in March 2016, and did not seek re-election. In 2018, he was appointed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary

Sonny Perdue George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III (born December 20, 1946) is an American veterinarian, businessman, politician, and university administrator who served as the 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2017 to 2021. He previously served as t ...

to be Minister-Counselor for Agriculture at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome, Italy.

Biography

Tommie Williams began his career as an

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

farmer in Toombs county, was a public school teacher, and is currently a tree farmer. He received a bachelor's degree at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, and a master's degree in education at

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hi ...

Senate career

Williams was first elected to the State Senate in 1998, after winning a three-way primary. Beginning in 2006, he had had no primary challengers until his retirement in 2017. In 2005, Williams was chosen as Senate Majority Leader. He served in that role until 2009, when he was voted President Pro Tempore, the second highest position in the Senate, behind Lieutenant Governor. He was also Chairman of the Administrative Affairs Committee from 2009 to 2013. In August 2011, Senator Williams was asked by members of the press if he was interested in running against U.S.Congressman John Barrow, in whose district he resides. Williams indicated that it did interest him, however, he would still be running for re-election to his Senate seat. Senator Williams endorsed Newt Gingrich for president in the

2012 Republican presidential primaries Voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential ...

. On June 4, 2012, Senator Williams sent an open letter to the Senate Republican Caucus and to members of the press in which he stated his intentions to forgo seeking re-election for the position of President Pro Tempore. His reasons included spending more time with his family, as inspired by the movie '' Courageous'', and his belief that leadership positions should be rotated or term-limited.

Election history

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

References

External links

Official Election Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Tommie University of Georgia alumni Georgia Southern University alumni Living people Politicians from Atlanta Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators People from Lyons, Georgia 21st-century American politicians Presidents pro tempore of the Georgia State Senate Year of birth missing (living people)