Five newcomers to watch and power players,

GOVERNOR

Nathan Deal: The governor enters the third year of his second term and will set the agenda again in 2017, although his influence may be a little diminished by the fact that he is nearing the end of his tenure and his signature Opportunity School District, a proposed constitutional amendment, got hammered at the polls in November. However, he still has the power to veto legislation and legislative spending priorities.

CHIEF OF STAFF

Chris Riley: Riley is likely the most influential gubernatorial chief of staff in many decades in Georgia. Deal and Riley lived near each other in Gainesville, and Riley has served as Deal’s personal pilot as well as chief aide for years. Riley knows the governor’s mind, and nothing happens anywhere near Capitol Hill — or in Hall County — without him knowing about it and often having a say in it.

SENATE

David Shafer, R-Duluth, Senate president pro tem: A former top Republican staffer and campaign manager when he was in his 20s. A onetime chief deputy insurance commissioner, Shafer is a careful, politically astute operator who has built the largest campaign war chest in the General Assembly and has beaten back attempts in his own party to dislodge him. Shafer is a fiscal conservative who will likely lead the charge to reduce income taxes in coming years. Long expected to run for lieutenant governor in 2018. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, Senate majority leader: Has climbed the leadership ladder since winning election in 2006, replacing his brother-in-law Brian Kemp (now Georgia’s secretary of state) in the Senate. Served as a floor leader for Gov. Sonny Perdue during the governor’s second term. Moved up to GOP caucus chairman in 2011. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville: A retired grocer who has long run the Senate Appropriations Committee. A former Democrat whose party switch helped the Senate turn Republican in 2002. Hill follows economic indicators closely and knows everything about how state tax money is spent, and he plays a key role in deciding where it goes.