Last Saturday, the 5th District GA GOP organization held its District Convention a week early ahead of the other districts. A local DeKalb RA chapter made endorsements for that event in advance, and they were mostly successful.
Anita Lane Favors was the GRA-endorsed candidate for the 5th District Chair position, and she successfully won the seat! Attorney Catherine Bernard was one of the GRA-endorsed candidates for State Committee, and she was successfully re-elected as well. Catherine also serves as our Senior GRA NFRA Director. Non-establishment candidate Rich Clarke from DeKalb also won election to the state committee.
Regretfully, Establishment candidate Travis Bowden also won re-election to the state committee when the convention had the candidates run not for specific slots. Instead, the state committee seats were awarded to the top three candidates who received the most votes. Catherine received the most votes at the convention (only one delegate voted against her). Travis received the second most votes. Rich received third place. GRA-member Julie Allen from Fulton came in fourth, and so was not elected to the state committee.
When delegates were asked how they could vote to elect Travis Bowden while also electing non-Establishment candidates such as Catherine and Rich, multiple participants said that they were simply not familiar with Travis’ reputation and track record, but were impressed with the brief speech he gave at the convention.
Travis has worked in the political industry for years, defended bad politicians, and has often been belligerent to grassroots activists across the state. This is why it is so important for delegates to really know their candidates and not be misled merely by a brief speech at a convention.
Even so, we are grateful to see progress in the heart of the Atlanta area each year! This is a long game, and we are optimistic about what the future holds.