The House was in session for a few minutes this morning, mainly to hear their committee assignments, something we have been anxiously waiting for. When we get the full roster, we will post them on the site, but for now here are the chairs of most committees:
Agriculture- Preston Sullivan (D)
Appropriations- Herb Frierson (R)
Banking- Hank Zuber (R)
Corrections- George Flaggs (D)
Education- John Moore (R)
Elections- Bill Denny (R)
Energy- Angela Cockerham (D)
Forestry- Becky Currie (R)
Gaming- Richard Bennett (R)
Insurance- Gary Chism (R)
Jud A- Mark Baker (R)
Jud B- Andy Gipson (R)
Reapportionment- No chairman designated, but believe the GOP has a 7-3 advantage on committee
Medicaid- Bobby Howell (R)
Public Health- Sam Mims (R)
Transportation- Robert Johnson (D)
Universities & Colleges- Nolan Mettetal (R)
Ways & Means- Jeff Smith (R)
Wildlife- Scott Bounds (R)
As I said this isn’t the entire list. All in all, I would say Democrats fared slightly better in the Senate under Tate Reeves than they did here. And it also looks like Black Caucus members did better than white Democrats. A total of 8 Black Caucus members will chair a committee in the House compared to just two white Democrats. Old Yellow Dogs like Steve Holland, Johnny Stringer, Bobby Moak, Tommy Reynolds, and Bennett Malone didn’t get anything significant. But we will have to see the entire committees rosters to get the full story, though from what I could gather in trying to listen to the assignments the GOP should have the majority on all major committees.
One thing is for sure- it’s a different day. Longtime Republicans who have been sidelined for a decade or more will get what they have been working for, and get their chance to lead. I suppose Democrats won’t be happy, but what are they going to say? If Speaker Gunn did things like Billy McCoy, they wouldn’t have received what they did get, so it is a difficult argument.
As for other Republicans who wanted to be Speaker- they got some nice assignments as you can see from the list. Jeff Smith will handle Ways & Means while Herb Frierson is in charge of Appropriations.
Update: Here is a complete list of the committee roster, courtesy of Yall Politics. As we mentioned, no chair listed for Congressional or legislative redistricting. Mark Baker was listed first because that list was in alphabetical order, but we will have to wait and see what else we hear about those committees. But the GOP does have a 7-3 advantage on both of them.
Also, if my math is correct, Republicans have a 19-14 advantage on both Appropriations and Ways & Means, including the chair and vice-chair for both.
The final tallies of chairs and vice-chairs looks like this: 30 Republican chairs and 16 Republican vice-chairs compared to 10 Democratic chairs and 22 Democratic vice chairs.