Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) is calling it quits on his marriage of 12 years, filing for divorce from his oncologist wife earlier this month even as Capitol Hill insiders report seeing him cozy up to another Republican lawmaker.
A petition for divorce was filed by McCormick on May 3, according to Gwinnett County court records. A mutual restraining order was filed in the case docket on the same day.
The Daily Mail first reported the pending divorce on Thursday. Asked by the outlet about her husband’s reasons for the divorce, Dr. Debra Miller replied in a text that she wasn’t sure McCormick would be “forthcoming.”
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When pressed about the possibility of an affair hanging over their relationship, Miller replied, “You should ask Rich and his colleague,” according to the Mail.
Sources on the Hill told the tabloid that McCormick had been spotted “acting overly friendly” toward Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) of late. One insider reported seeing the pair “holding hands under the table” at a congressional caucus earlier this year, adding that they’d also witnessed McCormick “grab the small of [Van Duyne’s] back” on the House floor during votes.
Two other unnamed sources reported seeing the Republicans holding hands in the chamber, while a third witness told the Mail that they’d watched as Van Duyne held onto McCormick’s arm as they left one of the House office buildings late at night.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Rep. McCormick’s attorney and spokesperson for comment. The spokesperson told the Mail that the legislator and his wife “have been separated for quite some time. He has kept that private and will continue to keep his personal life out of the media spotlight.”
A representative for Van Duyne declined to comment to the outlet.
Married since 2011, according to their social media accounts, McCormick and Miller share seven children. Van Duyne has been divorced from her ex-husband, with whom she shares two children, since 2012.
McCormick has represented Georgia’s sixth congressional district since last year. A Marine Corps and Navy veteran and emergency room physician, he lost his first bid for elected office in 2020, losing the seventh congressional district’s general election to his Democratic opponent. He handily won in the sixth in 2022, however, after the district was redrawn, leaving it a far more deeply red territory.
The 55-year-old previously drew national headlines for a bizarre report earlier this year that he’d been witnessed doing pull-ups at the top of the Capitol dome, hanging onto a rail hundreds of feet off the ground. He later told reporters that he “used to get paid to jump out of perfectly good aircraft—this is nothing dangerous.”
In late 2023, it was also reported that he’d gotten into a physical altercation with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) after both moved to force votes on competing resolutions to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
After Greene accused McCormick, without naming him, of shaking her shoulders, he told Politico that he’d intended it as a “friendly gesture.”
“I said to her, ‘at least we can have an honest discussion,’ to which she said she did not appreciate that,” he explained. “For that I immediately apologized and have not spoken to her since.”
