Georgia Sen. Colton Moore arrested after trying to defy a ban on entering the House chamber

A Georgia state senator who was previously banned from the House of Representatives was arrested Thursday when he tried to enter the chamber for the governor’s State of the State address and was engaged in a scuffle with House employees.

State Sen. Colton Moore, a Republican from Trenton, is among the chamber’s most right-leaning members. He signaled Wednesday that he would seek to provoke a confrontation when he called House Speaker Jon Burns, a fellow Republican, a “tyrant” on social media.

The arrest is one of several examples of state officials attempting to restrain lawmakers or spectators as legislative sessions begin in 2025.

Burns banned Moore from the House chamber last year after Moore denounced the late House Speaker David Ralston on a day when Ralston was being honored and his relatives were watching. In a speech, Moore called Ralston “one of the most corrupt Georgia leaders we have ever seen” due to allegations that Ralston improperly delayed court cases he handled as an attorney. Burns called Moore’s remarks “vile” when he announced the ban, saying it would remain in effect until Moore apologized.

Before his arrest Thursday, Moore told reporters that Burns could not legally prevent him from attending a joint session of the House and Senate to listen to Gov. Brian Kemp in the House chamber. He said he met with Burns on Wednesday but couldn’t find anything.

“You can’t stop a session of the General Assembly,” Moore said as he tried to push his way past House staffers who were blocking the door. “I have a constitutional obligation to attend.”

Keith Williams, a lawyer in the president’s office, pushed Moore and the senator fell to the ground after one of Moore’s attempts to enter the chamber. Officers handcuffed Moore and took him to the Fulton County Jail. There, online jail records show Moore was incarcerated on a misdemeanor charge of willfully obstructing law enforcement officers.

Supporters said online that they were working to free Moore. Jail records indicated he had to post $1,000 bail to be released.

Moore was expelled from the Senate Republican caucus in September 2023 after launching attacks on fellow Republicans for refusing to agree to a special session to take action against Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis for indicting the former president Donald Trump. Kemp denounced the call as “a scam” aimed at raising contributions to Moore’s campaign.

In 2018, officers arrested 15 people, including Nikema Williams, then a Democratic senator and now a congresswoman, for an election-related protest at the Georgia Capitol. Police arrested state Rep. Park Cannon in 2021 after she knocked on the door of the governor’s office while he was broadcasting a speech.

The charges were dropped each time.