Month: January 2023
Banks Wise, Treasurer

Banks Wise, Treasurer

As the Treasurer, Banks Wise manages the finances of the organization. He has been involved in the Republican Party as a volunteer activist for over a decade, first getting involved in the presidential races of Congressman Ron Paul from Texas. He resides in Cherokee County and works in an accounting firm. He has previously worked as a campaign manager for several successful State House races and worked as those elected Republican legislators’ Chief of Staff and their political advisor.

Denise Burns, Assistant Secretary

Denise Burns, Assistant Secretary

Denise Burns was elected as the Assistant Secretary of the GRA at the State Convention in December of 2021. She has been a GRA member in good standing for many years, and was also first elected the 14th Congressional District GA GOP Chairman in May of 2021. She was reelected to that position in 2023. She lives in the Walker County / Catoosa County area, has been a good long-term friend of Secretary Joanna Hildreth, and she assists Joanna with the official correspondence on behalf of the GRA.

Abigail Darnell, 3rd Vice President

Abigail Darnell, 3rd Vice President

Abigail Hope Darnell (formerly Abigail Hope Cochran) grew up in Whitfield County in northwest Georgia before marrying Nathaniel Darnell in the summer of 2020. She is the grateful mother of their first child Patience Hope Darnell, who was born in November of 2021. She is the eldest daughter among seven children belonging to Crystal Cochran and CPA Keith Cochran, and worked at his accounting firm for many years. She has also been heavily active in Georgia Right to Life, helping her family organize and run the northwest chapter of GRTL beginning in 2016. In 2019 she was elected as the Vice President of Georgia Right to Life by the state board, serving under Ricardo Davis, the President of that organization. She was re-elected to that position in August 2021. She served for five years as Secretary on the board of the L’Abri Symphony, a non-profit community orchestra in Dalton, Georgia, and has trained and volunteered with the Center for Bioethical Reform, doing campus outreach and street activism. In addition, she has served as a field reporter and correspondent for David Tulis’s radio show based in Chattanooga. Abigail served as 3rd Vice President originally in 2021, and was re-elected to that position at the GRA State Convention in December of 2021 for another term.

Abigail Darnell, 3rd Vice President

Abigail Darnell, 3rd Vice President

Abigail Hope Darnell (formerly Abigail Hope Cochran) grew up in Whitfield County in northwest Georgia before marrying Nathaniel Darnell in the summer of 2020. She is the grateful mother of their first child Patience Hope Darnell, who was born in November of 2021. She is the eldest daughter among seven children belonging to Crystal Cochran and CPA Keith Cochran, and worked at his accounting firm for many years. She has also been heavily active in Georgia Right to Life, helping her family organize and run the northwest chapter of GRTL beginning in 2016. In 2019 she was elected as the Vice President of Georgia Right to Life by the state board, serving under Ricardo Davis, the President of that organization. She was re-elected to that position in August 2021. She served for five years as Secretary on the board of the L’Abri Symphony, a non-profit community orchestra in Dalton, Georgia, and has trained and volunteered with the Center for Bioethical Reform, doing campus outreach and street activism. In addition, she has served as a field reporter and correspondent for David Tulis’s radio show based in Chattanooga. Abigail served as 3rd Vice President originally in 2021, and was re-elected to that position at the GRA State Convention in December of 2021 for another term.

Catherine Bernard, NFRA Director from Georgia

Catherine Bernard, NFRA Director from Georgia

Catherine Bernard has served as the lady junior NFRA National Director for Georgia, succeeding Debra Williams. In addition, Catherine has developed a reputation as a successful criminal defense attorney in Georgia. In 2012 she was elected as a delegate to the National Republican Convention. She has also been the Republican nominee for two State House races in urban DeKalb. She and her husband Eric reside in DeKalb County.

Nathaniel Darnell, NFRA Director from Georgia

Nathaniel Darnell, NFRA Director from Georgia

Nathaniel has served as the NFRA Director of the GRA since 2021, succeeding Ron Hooper in that position. The year before that, as the 3rd Vice President of the GRA and as the Chairman of the Cobb County Republican Assembly since 2017. He also was elected as the Vice Chair of Communications for the Cobb County Republican Party in 2019 and continued to serve in that capacity in 2020. He first started working in Georgia Republican politics in 1996, working for eight different Republican state legislators over the course of eight legislative sessions, including Tom Graves in his freshman year as a state representative, and Casey Cagle when he was still a minority-party state senator. He also served State Senator Mike Crane (R-Newnan), State Rep. Mitchell Kaye (R-Cobb), State Senator Billy Ray (R-Gwinnett), and others. He has served as a state committee member for the Georgia Republican Party in the 11th Congressional District for seven years, as the Executive Director of the Cobb County Republican Party for three years. Nathaniel holds a juris doctorate with Oak Brook College of Law and works as a licensed financial advisor and insurance professional in Georgia.