Rep. Beth Van Duyne acknowledged Friday that she is “happily engaged in a relationship” with fellow Republican legislator Rich McCormick after the Georgia congressman filed for divorce earlier this month from his wife of 12 years.
“I’m single. We’re both parents of adult children and empty nesters,” Van Duyne (R-Texas) told DailyMail.com in remarks her office later confirmed to The Post. “His marriage has been over for quite some time, as I understand it. He’s filed for divorce.”
The romance between Van Duyne, 53, and McCormick, 55, was first reported by the Daily Mail Thursday evening, but a rep for the Georgia lawmaker told The Post the partnership was “old news” to the Capitol Hill “rumor mill.”
McCormick’s office said the freshman had been “separated for quite some time” from his stunning oncologist wife, Dr. Debra Miller, and a Hill source told The Post McCormick and Van Duyne have been canoodling for more than a year.
Other sources confirmed that the pair had been spotted holding hands in House GOP conference meetings and cozying up to each other on the chamber floor.
A second source joked that the two had taken a page from the book of ex-Donald Trump prosecutor Nathan Wade, who shrugged off his affair with Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis by saying in a recent interview: “Workplace romances are as American as apple pie.”
Miller told the Daily Mail that she didn’t expect her estranged husband to be “forthcoming” about his romance with his colleague.
McCormick, a former Marine and Navy veteran “clearly has a type,” one source told the outlet, noting that Van Duyne and Miller have similar long blonde hairstyles.
McCormick and Miller have seven children and were married for more than twelve years before their May 3 split.
Van Duyne has been divorced from her college sweetheart, Chris Wallach, since 2012, according to the Dallas Morning News. The couple were married for more than 17 years.
Both McCormick and Van Duyne represent deep-red districts in their respective states, with the Texas congresswoman having previously served as mayor of the Dallas suburb of Irving from 2011 to 2017 before accepting a position in the Trump administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
