Early tenure (2003–2009) Jones was elected to the
Georgia House of Representatives in 2002, taking office on January 13, 2003. In the 2005-2006 legislative session, she briefly served as the House Republican Majority Whip. Jones is currently the state representative for Georgia's 47th House district, which covers some of the northern
Atlanta suburbs (including parts of North
Fulton County, such as
Milton,
Mountain Park,
Alpharetta, and
Roswell, as well as a portion of unincorporated eastern
Cherokee County). Jones' district became more heavily Republican in 2021, during the
redistricting cycle; starting in the 2022 elections, her district took in a part of Cherokee County, shifting her district from one that voted 53.4% for
Donald Trump in 2020 to one that voted 57% for Trump in 2020.
Speaker pro tempore (2010–present) In January 2010, Jones was elected speaker
pro tempore of the Georgia House (the second-highest leadership position in the chamber), becoming the first female to serve in the role and the highest-ranking woman in Georgia legislative history. In 2014, Jones supported legislation to block
Medicaid expansion in Georgia. In 2016, Governor
Nathan Deal and others encouraged Jones to seek the Republican nomination in the
2017 Georgia's 6th congressional district special election, for the
U.S. House of Representatives seat vacated by
Tom Price. Jones declined to run. In 2019, after Republican U.S. Senator
Johnny Isakson announced his intent to resign from the Senate, Jones was one of many well-known Republican applicants who sought an appointment to fill the vacancy (others included Price,
Jack Kingston, and
Randy Evans). Governor
Brian Kemp ultimately chose
Kelly Loeffler to fill the vacancy. In early 2020, Jones opposed
legislation to ban books in schools deemed "obscene"; the proposal targeted various works that address issues of race and gender, such as
Toni Morrison's novel
Beloved and
Maia Kobabe's memoir and graphic novel
Gender Queer. In late 2021, however, Jones reversed positions, backing an "anti-obscenity" bill similar to the one she had previously opposed. After
Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Jones supported a controversial effort to change Georgia's election laws. Critics deemed the Georgia election legislation an effort to restrict
voting rights (see
Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election). Jones was later involved in efforts to initiate a performance review of local election officials in Fulton County (a heavily Democratic county), which could later be used to remove the election officials. Trump and his Republican allies targeted Fulton County when they were making false claims of fraud. Jones was temporarily elevated to speaker following Ralston's death, becoming the first female speaker of the Georgia House. Jones decided not to seek to run in the November 2022 Republican caucus election for speaker; she chose, along with the rest of Ralston's Republican leadership team, to support Majority Leader
Jon G. Burns's bid for speaker. Jones instead chose to seek reelection as president
pro tem. students zoned for public schools scoring in the lowest 25% would be eligible. The proposed program would cost $110 million, if 1% of Georgia public school students participated. The bill stalled in March 2023, with the House voting 95–70 to table it; an amended version of the bill also later failed, 85–89, in the final hours of the session, after more than a dozen Republican representatives (mostly representing rural districts) joined almost all Democrats in voting against it. ==Personal life==