“The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.” — General and President Dwight Eisenhower –
Politics is often ugly and dangerous. These hazards increase with being a public servant. It is often said that some who gain power develop a strong fear of losing it.
That is not the case with Republican and former Georgia House Representative Randy Nix.
I have known Randy since he was elected to represent the 69th district on January 8th, 2007. This district includes a significant portion of west Georgia. Randy retired from the House on January 9th, 2023. While I did not want to see him go, God called him to serve in other ways. We are fortunate that David Huddleston had the courage to seek Randy’s open position and prevail.
Randy Nix was born on June 19, 1952. He graduated from Troy State University with a B.S. degree in Business, and later from the Southern Trust School as well. Randy and his wife, Debra, have two children: Jess (an attorney in Birmingham, Alabama) and Julie (a Marine reservist and nurse practitioner at Tanner Medical Center).
Randy served 5 years as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army Reserve. He later served 7 years in the Alabama Air National Guard where his final assignment was as a weapons system officer flying the RF4-C Phantom aircraft. He was honorably discharged with the rank of captain, U.S. Army Reserve.
He served as pastor at the Hillcrest United Methodist Church for 12 years and enjoys inspiring others as a motivational speaker.
As a member of the Georgia House, Nix belonged to the following committees: Banks and Banking, Education, Economic Development and Tourism, Judiciary, and Natural Resources and Environment (Secretary), Appropriations, Creative Arts & Entertainment, Judiciary – Ex-Officio, and Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Special Committee On Access to Quality Health Care.
While these committees are very important to the proper functioning of our state, his character lead him to chair and lead perhaps the most important committee; Ethics.
Randy also brought a wealth of knowledge to the Georgia House of Representatives from his career in the financial services industry with experience in investments, insurance and banking. Randy is a member of the Rotary Club, past president of Boy and Girls Club of West Georgia and past president of the West Georgia Technical College Foundation Board.
As I mentioned, politics can be ugly and dangerous. Some good men and women do not have the ability to control their power. We see this daily on the news when powerful people become fallen angels. The good person becomes overwhelmed with seeking more power and thus does anything to gain it.
But, Randy did not seek power or become consumed by it. This is evident by looking at his election results. The lowest vote percentage was 65%. The highest was 100%. That is quite unusual in elections.
He was never defeated by an opponent.
Randy is the example of how a public servant should be. He developed a working and cordial relationship with Democrats and possessed such high integrity that the Speaker of the House would often ask him to say the prayer that officially opened the yearly session of the General Assembly.
The best illustration of this is when he opened a session of the Georgia House of Representatives as Chaplain of the Day by focusing on an article that one of his constituents wrote about four years ago. He did not take credit for the message. Instead, he gave the credit to the writer and humbly told the legislators that the message moved him and urged them to take “the high road.” His constituent was honored beyond description.
While these accolades and good deeds are impressive, Randy’s natural character makes him stand out. If a constituent needed to speak to him personally, he would adjust his schedule to make it work.
While he maintained his Christian values in the House, he did not berate, raise his voice, or otherwise attack a representative who had an opposing position.
He was and is the definition of a strong, Southern gentleman.
If the United States Congress was made up of people like Randy Nix, our country would not be weakening, taxpayers would not be gouged to pay for meaningless political prosecutions, and we would be viewed as the strong country that we were under Ronald Reagan.
Randy, your impact on our community may be more than you realize. I pray that our younger legislators will look to you and learn from your service.
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do.