1. David Ralston was an American attorney and a Republican politician who was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2003 until his death.
17 Facts About David Ralston
1. 2.
David Ralston attended Young Harris College, graduated from North Georgia College and State University, and later from the University of Georgia School of Law.
3.
In 1998, David Ralston was the Republican nominee for attorney general of Georgia, but lost the election to Thurbert Baker.
4.
David Ralston was elected to serve as Speaker in 2010, following the resignation of Glenn Richardson.
5.
David Ralston spearheaded economically conservative initiatives, including passing the first-ever income tax cut in the state in 2018 and eliminating the sales tax on manufacturers.
6.
Additionally, David Ralston passed reforms to Georgia's election process, most recently the Election Integrity Act of 2021.
7.
In 2014, David Ralston was investigated by the Georgia Supreme Court following a complaint that he had ignored a client's case for years and had failed to communicate.
8.
In February 2019, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV reported that David Ralston regularly used his position as speaker to benefit his Blue Ridge-based private law practice.
9.
Some of David Ralston's clients retained him specifically for these reasons.
10.
Journalists found that over the course of 21 cases, David Ralston requested delays 57 times, and that on 76 of the 93 conflicting days, the legislature was not in session; he would commonly delay individual cases over a dozen times each.
11.
David Ralston had been known to seek revenge on political opponents and, as speaker, controlled two seats on the investigative panel of the state judicial qualifications commission.
12.
Local Republican conventions in DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Rabun counties called for David Ralston to resign, as did the Gainesville Times.
13.
On February 25,2019, David Ralston declared in an "emotional" speech to the Georgia house that he would establish a bipartisan panel to look into how the law should be changed; he stated that as an attorney, he would not accept any new criminal cases for now.
14.
David Ralston had two children and worked as an attorney in Blue Ridge, Georgia.
15.
David Ralston was married to Sheree Ralston, and was a member of the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce and the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association.
16.
On November 4,2022, David Ralston announced he would not seek another term as House speaker, citing health concerns.
17.
David Ralston died 12 days later at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.