John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician and former lawyer who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Deal served in the Georgia State Senate from 1981 to 1993, the last two years as president pro tempore of the senate. He faced a crowded field of candidates in the Republican primary when he ran for governor in 2010, ultimately facing former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel in a tightly contested primary runoff election, and won by fewer than 2,500 votes. In the general election, Deal defeated the Democratic opponent, former governor Roy Barnes, and succeeded term-limited Sonny Perdue in 2011. He won his re-election campaign for governor in 2014 against Democrat Jason Carter.
Deal came to prominence in 2014 when he signed into law the Safe Carry Protection Act, known by critics as the "Guns Everywhere Law", which allows residents with a permit to carry a concealed weapon to bring firearms into most public areas, including churches, school zones, government buildings and certain sections of airports. He was barred by term limits in 2018 and was succeeded by outgoing Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
Deal was born on August 25, 1942, in the town of Millen and grew up on a farm in Sandersville, Georgia. His parents, Mary (née Mallard) and Noah Jordan Deal, were teachers.
He attended Mercer University in Macon, where he earned his bachelor and law degrees with honors. After he earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1966, he joined the United States Army, where he earned the rank of captain.
Deal spent twenty-three years in private law practice. He was also a criminal prosecutor, a Hall County juvenile court judge, and a Northeastern Judicial Circuit superior court judge. In 1980, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate as a Democrat in District 49.
In November 1990, he was elected by his party to be the President Pro Tempore, the second highest ranking position in the chamber. Democrat Jane Hemmer replaced him in the Senate, but she was defeated by Republican Casey Cagle two years later.
U.S. House of Representatives (1993–2010)
Deal was first elected to Congress in November 1992 as a Democrat, succeeding eight-term incumbent Ed Jenkins in Georgia's 9th congressional district. He was re-elected as a Democrat in 1994.
However, on April 11, 1995, shortly after Republicans assumed control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, Deal joined the Republican Party, which was led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, a fellow Georgian. Years later, Gingrich said that Deal became a Republican because he liked what he saw in the Contract With America.
Deal was handily re-elected in his first election as a Republican in the 1996 general election, even though Jenkins endorsed his Democratic opponent, attorney and state representative McCracken "Ken" Poston, who represented much of the congressional district's northwestern portion. This was the first time his district had elected a Republican for a full term since Reconstruction. Only one other Democrat besides Poston has won even 30 percent of the vote since Deal switched parties.
Deal was unopposed for re-election in 1998, 2002, and 2004 and defeated an underfunded Democratic candidate in 2000. His district was renumbered the 10th District in 2003, but became the 9th again after a mid-decade redistricting in 2006.
The 9th had turned increasingly Republican at the federal level; apart from Jimmy Carter, a Democratic presidential candidate last carried it in 1960. However, conservative Democrats continued to hold most local offices as well as most of its seats in the General Assembly. However, Republicans began whittling away elected posts in the 1990s, helped by party switchers like Deal. By the turn of the millennium, there were almost no elected Democrats left above the county level in the district.
In November 2006, Deal was re-elected 77%–23%. His Democratic opponent was John Bradbury, a former elementary school teacher turned truck driver. His district, already heavily Republican, became even more Republican after the mid-decade redistricting pushed it further into the Atlanta suburbs.
Deal's voting record was relatively moderate in his first term, getting ratings in the 60s from the American Conservative Union (ACU). He moved sharply to the right after his party switch and voted for all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. From 1996 onward, he garnered ratings of 90 or higher from the ACU.
During his 17 years in Congress, Deal rose to chair the Health Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce, where he became a noted expert on entitlement reform and health care policy.
Deal introduced H.R. 698, the Citizenship Reform Act, which would eliminate birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The 14th Amendment begins "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. ... " Deal's argument is that undocumented immigrants (and their children) are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Committee on Energy and Commerce