State Sen. Butch Miller of Gainesville will replace Jim Butterworth as a floor leader in the Georgia Senate.

Butterworth, R-Clarkesville, is leaving the Senate Oct. 2 to head the Georgia National Guard, a job given to him by Gov. Nathan Deal.

Deal named Miller as Butterworth's replacement Thursday.

"I'm honored and humbled to be asked," Miller said Thursday. "If it's good for Hall County and it's good for Georgia, then I want to do it."

As floor leader, Miller will be charged with promoting Deal's legislative agenda in the Senate, acting as an ambassador of the governor on legislative issues.

"Butch is a friend, the ultimate team player and a hard worker," Deal said in a statement. "In the private sector, Butch has excelled at sales; I'm going to put that talent to use as he sells my legislation in the Senate."

Miller's Senate district covers all of Hall County and part of Jackson County.

He was first elected to represent the area in the Senate in a special election last year after Gainesville dentist Lee Hawkins resigned from the post to run for Congress.

He was elected to a full two-year term in November, and serves as the chairman of the Senate's State and Local Government Operations Committee and secretary of the Economic Development Committee.

Most recently, Deal named Miller to the newly formed Transit Governance Task Force.

And on Oct. 2, Miller will join Bill Jackson of Columbia County and Ronnie Chance of Fayette County on the Senate floor leader team.

Miller's appointment as the governor's floor leader is the second such appointment of a Hall County legislator.

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, was appointed as a floor leader in the House of Representatives in January.