12 Years of Progress – History of the GRA

In January of 2013, at the height of the Tea Party movement, the Georgia Republican Assembly officially chartered as a state chapter of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA). The initial charter included only 25 members, and few could have imagined the 1,000+ member organization the GRA would become. 

During the first year, the fledgling organization hosted a debate between candidates running for GAGOP Chair and adopted a model to endorse candidates with a 2/3rds vote (proving strong consensus), a model that is used by NFRA chapters across the country. Initial GRA calls to action encouraged voters to urge their Congressman to defund Obamacare and withdraw from Common Core curriculum.

However, the organization struggled to get off the ground and by September of 2015 Julianne Thompson, the original President, acknowledged that she and the other officers were too busy on campaigns for Ted Cruz and others. She sent an email calling for a reorganization that led to Alex Johnson being elected as President with Kay Godwin and Pat Tippet from South Georgia also being elected among the officers. This is when things began to change. At that time, only six members were reported to be on the organization’s roster.

Alex Johnson had recently concluded his second campaign as an anti-Establishment candidate for state party Chairman, which had given the 30-year old attorney a platform to expose numerous problems in the party. Johnson’s campaign had galvanized an anti-establishment caucus and made him an ideal recruit for the newly created organization. 

“The Establishment has always just been horrible,” said Johnson. 

Johnson saw the need to hold politicians accountable from his earliest involvement in the Republican Party.

“When I initially joined the party, I thought that no matter who won in the primary you would get someone in favor of low taxes, gun rights, and Republican principles. But then I realized we were getting betrayed,” said Johnson. 

He witnessed a lot of infuriating misconduct in the GOP, flagrant bias on the part of the convention Chairman, and a mockery of Robert’s Rules on the convention floor in 2012. That year even Fox 19 acknowledged the clash between the “new wave of liberty voters” and the Republican establishment. 

At the 2012 GA GOP Convention, there was a resolution proposed which voiced opposition to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by President Obama, which allowed the President to order the indefinite detention of any terrorist suspect, without charges filed and without a trial. 

An amendment was proposed to the resolution that said the party would also refuse to support any candidate that had supported the blatant unconstitutional sections of the NDAA. During the debate on this amendment, which would have added an accountability mechanism for Georgia congressmen who violate the Constitution, Debbie Dooley took to the microphone to vehemently oppose the amendment, (showing her opposition to accountability started many years ago). 

FOX Video:

The way the resolution was handled shocked everyone. Instead of putting the amendment to a vote of the body, the Convention Chairman just unilaterally withdrew the resolution from consideration which was contrary to Robert’s Rules which requires a motion and a vote for withdrawal. People were furious. Clearly the GOP establishment regarded the delegates as spectators, of a show they were directing, despite the delegate election process that began at their local precinct. 

The way many TEA Party and Ron Paul supporters were mistreated in 2012 was eye-opening for Johnson and several others who would later become the backbone of the GRA. 

Another blatant violation occurred when there was a standing vote on whether to end debate on something, which would have required a 2/3rds vote to pass. It was obvious by the standing vote that there were at least 1/3 of the members of the hall that wanted debate to continue, but the convention Chairman, Randy Evans, ruled that the vote passed. Randy Evans claimed he could clearly see the convention hall, but earlier in the convention he had said in front of everyone that he couldn’t see past the microphones which were near the front.

Alex Johnson went to the microphone and made a point of order noting that the chairman had previously acknowledged he couldn’t see past the microphones, and Alex said he too, when he was on stage earlier that day could not see to the back of the room. The point of order was ignored. Many others complained at the microphones and made similar points of order that likewise fell on deaf ears.

“I had been involved in the GOP since 2009. But after the shenanigans in 2012 I said obviously we can’t allow that to happen again. The Chair has all the power. So I should run for Chair.”

He impressed upon the activist community the importance of being connected statewide.

“If they wanted the GOP to act better, it wasn’t enough to just be involved at their local county level GOP, they had to know and coordinate efforts with people from around the state.” 

Alex chronicled much of the GOP cheating he observed with his email list called Advance the GOP and maintained a positive, solution-oriented tone. Articles with titles like: “Don’t Cheat, Grow the Party,”and ”How Money is Destroying the Georgia GOP: Lies, Control and the Solution!”

In 2013 Johnson ran against John Padgett and B.J. Van Gundy.

“They all ignored me thinking I was just an interesting side show, not thinking I would get many votes.”

But surprisingly, Alex made it to a second round of voting, after Van Gundy was eliminated, and then lost to Padgett. 

Before the election, two of the largest county chairs, Linda Smith (Dekalb GOP Chairman) and Joe Dendy (Cobb COP Chairman) both endorsed John Padgett and then immediately got hired to work for the state party when Padgett won. Dendy was working for the state party when charges were brought against him for child molestation.  

Alex also challenged John Watson for party chairman in 2017. Watson was a corporate lobbyist who had given money to Democrats, a fact which Alex was not shy about exposing in his campaign.

KICKSTARTING GRA GROWTH

The day after Alex Johnson was elected President of the GRA in 2015, he called for the creation of a website to help with recruitment, he called for a lower cost of membership dues, and he encouraged the new team to charter some local chapters. He laid out a model structure for the organization that encouraged growth, and allowed local chapters to make local endorsements. The team also began to consider creating legislative scorecards for the Georgia legislature, though the first scorecards were not published until 2017.

“What we observed was that every few years a new presidential candidate would inspire a group of brand new activists. They would show up at the GOP, and often get mistreated by the Establishment,” said Nathaniel Darnell, current GRA President.

There was the Tea Party movement in 2010, followed by the Ron Paul revolution in 2012, the Trump Republicans in 2016, and then the election integrity advocates in 2020 and 2021. Each time the dynamic was the same. The Establishment didn’t appreciate the new influx of Republicans joining the party. The new activists cared about issues, and they felt strongly about them, but they were told to stop raising that issue, listen to politicians, and clap on cue. 

“People wanted a place to be heard. People didn’t like the fact the their local GOPs didn’t want to stand for principles,” said Johnson. “They wanted an alternative that was going to stand for principles, and they were looking to work with like-minded people.” 

Each time the establishment acted dismissive of a new wave of people, the GRA stepped in and provided a community of support for the outcasts. GRA members affirmed their zeal for the principles of the party and helped them learn the ropes. 

As early as 2016 the GRA began providing training for new activists on Robert’s Rules and how the party worked, encouraging them that their issue mattered. On January 12, 2016 the GRA chartered its first local chapter in Fulton County. Nate Porter was elected chapter leader at that meeting, and current Fulton RA Chapter President, Nick Cooper was one of those in attendance. 

“We were excited to begin taking concrete steps towards rooting out the RINOs from the GOP,” said Cooper. “We were eager to get involved on the ground level in Fulton County and take the fight to the Establishment on their home turf.”

By April 2016 the GRA had chartered a chapter in DeKalb County and chartered another chapter in Cobb County that July. 

“Every convention cycle the GRA picked up new members,” said Johnson. 

In February of 2016 the organization had only 58 members, but it grew exponentially thereafter. By 2018 the GRA included more than 450 members statewide. They knew that real reform takes time, and GRA members were reformers who learned the value of patience.

PROGRESS IN THE PARTY

The GRA was greatly outnumbered in those days, but steadily growing in influence as well as in numbers. Many GRA members began getting elected to party office at different levels.

“There was a huge shift as time went on. The culture of the party shifted,” said Johnson.

Joanna Hildreth, GRA Secretary and hero of Catoosa County, also attended that unforgettable 2012 convention and witnessed the positive change in the party in the years following.

“When I was on the GOP State Committee in 2015-2017, the grassroots liberty-minded members of the committee seemed to be a small minority,” said Hildreth. “It was discouraging and I recall being very outnumbered on several votes. But by the time I was on the state committee again in 2021, it was almost 50/50, as evidenced by the Fulton and Chatham convention appeal votes,” a reference to two disputed county conventions, the outcome of which was appealed to the GOP State Committee, the roughly 150-member body that governs the GOP in between conventions.

The GRA gradually increased it’s statewide name recognition and was greatly aided by Alex Johnson’s race for Chairman in 2017, as well as other GRA Members who ran for party office..

“When I ran for Chair in 2017 I think that helped increase the numbers in the party. Because I ran on a platform of holding politicians accountable and maintaining our brand, and I was also President of the GRA, people knew that the GRA would be a good networking and coordination place for those principles,” said Johnson.

“It wasn’t about me, but because they knew I believed in these things and I was leading the GRA, they wanted to join.”

Alex ran for State Party Chairman in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and while none of these campaigns were ultimately successful, the margin of victory got tighter each year with Alex receiving roughly 40%, then 45, then 47% of the vote.

Despite these defeats, Johnson never considered leaving the GOP for a third party. 

 “I never thought about going third party. I knew some people who had become frustrated and left to join the Libertarian Party. But third parties don’t have the name ID and have a real challenge getting ballot access. I thought if I left it would be just abandoning the party to a bunch of grifters. Why would I retreat?”

“I watched as limited government people joined the Libertarian Party, and the people who cared a lot about social issues joined the Constitution party, but if all the people who left to join those parties would stick around, we could have the numbers to make the Republican Party what it is supposed to be”. 

PROGRESS IN THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE

The GRA saw its first major legislative success in 2017 after they endorsed Matt Gurtler for State House and he won his race. Gurtler was a champion for gun rights and constitutional carry – the idea that you shouldn’t need a permit to exercise a constitutional right. Gurtler received strong opposition from the Republican leadership at the Capitol.

“Rep. Matt Gurtler was the Colton Moore back in those days. He was willing to stand alone and vote ‘no’ on a bill based on principle, even when every other Republican voted ‘yes,’” said Darnell.

By 2019 the GRA had endorsed several legislators including Ken Pullin, Sherri Gilligan, and then Rep. Colton Moore who, along with Rep. Gurtler formed a small caucus of non-conformists – a precursor to the Georgia Freedom Caucus which would launch in December of 2021. 

These legislators were some of the Representatives courageous enough to call for the resignation of Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) due to his unethical behavior.

In February 2019, GRA endorsees were among the nine state legislators that cosponsored H.R. 328 calling on Ralston to resign as Speaker.

These legislators helped to highlight a stark contrast between the uni-party status quo and real Republican public policy positions, and the GRA utilized scorecards to help voters see the difference. 

Unfortunately, GRA endorsees’ stalwart convictions were not appreciated by the Republican leadership at the State Capitol, and some of those hard-won victories didn’t last long. 

“They had a target painted on their backs and the Establishment began taking them out one by one with things like funding their opponent in the primary, or gerrymandering their district,” said Darnell. “Pushback is a great teacher, and a great motivator. We had to rebuild our numbers in the legislature.”

But even this low point was an improvement over the Georgia legislature of 10 years prior. 

“Back in 2010 State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Cherokee) took bold stands and stood alone against the Uniparty under the Gold Dome, but it was much more difficult for him because he didn’t have the public support from organizations like the GRA or the Georgia Freedom Caucus.

MILESTONES – GA GOP DEBT & PLATFORM

By the end of 2017, the Georgia Republican Party found itself over $685,000 in debt. GRA members believed this was a huge concern. Alex Johnson’s Advance the GOP emails began including a GA GOP debt tracker with links to the FEC filings, as appalled party activists watched the deficit climb. (See FEC Report DEC 2017.)

In 2019 Nathaniel Darnell challenged incumbent Mansel McCord for State Party Treasurer and received the GRA endorsement. Darnell decried the hypocrisy of the debt problem from the convention stage in Savannah: “We are supposed to be the Party of fiscal responsibility!”

Darnell was ultimately beat in the race for party Treasurer by Joseph Brannan from Columbus, but was grateful to see Brannan work to implement many of the reforms he and other GRA members sought and that Darnell had focused on in his campaign.

The GRA saw a major success that year when GRA endorsee David Shafer was successfully elected state party chairman along with another endorsee as 2nd Vice Chair. The 2019 GOP EC successfully paid down the debt and led with a far more responsible management of the party’s finances. 

“We reached a major milestone in 2020, when we finally got the party to adopt a platform for the first time,” said Nathaniel Darnell. 

GRA members had pushed for an official party platform at the state level but had received opposition by those in the party who wanted to shield politicians from accountability. The platform was adopted in the Summer of 2020 after Chairman David Shafer appointed a platform committee chaired by the GRA 1st Vice President. The committee included many principled GRA members and other long time activists and hard-liners. 

“This was a massive win for us, since now we have a written standard that we can point to in our conversations with politicians and with their constituents in the primary season, when the incumbent doesn’t deliver,” said Darnell.

The GRA catered to the real concerns of everyday Republican voters. This was likely one of the factors that contributed to the growth and popularity of the organization. 

 “I think that members of the public genuinely are anti-Establishment and want to see accountability for politicians,” said Johnson. 

“There is a tendency for people to think that people who have been around a while and are confident, are better at running the party. They tend to defer to perceived expertise. But people need to be warned up front that is what is causing the problem. People from the public need to realize that those who have been involved in making money off politics are the ones who are causing problems in the party.” 

“People naturally come into the party anti-establishment, but if they defer to the paid political careerists, they can get suckered or ran off by the establishment.”

WHAT HELD THE ORGANIZATION TOGETHER 

One might suspect that an organization filled with independent thinkers might have self-destructed before reaching it’s 12 year anniversary. However, Alex Johnson believes the organization’s resilience is due to it’s core structure. 

“The leadership was on board with the idea of serving the members. Our system is set up so that the most important decisions (who we endorse), is in the hands of our members, not the leadership,” said Johnson.

We haven’t crumbled because it takes a very strong consensus. Also, because we do our best to not let in people who make money from the political industry, and people who are self-serving. We care that they stand with the principles… it’s not a top down structure.” 

In 2019 NFRA Directors Ron Hooper and Debra Williams led an overhaul of the GRA internal structure to incorporate the skills and experience of more members in the management of the organization, a much needed improvement more suited to a larger organization that had no paid staff. Williams had a strong reputation for putting on events with excellence and oversaw the GRA President’s dinner featuring Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie before she retired in the Fall of 2021. 

That Summer, Alex Johnson was elected the NFRA President at the national convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. He, along with the NFRA board have been helping other states charter and build state level Republican Assemblies who can similarly reform the Republican Party across the country. 

 In 2023, the GRA revised its bylaws, creating a new office of Chairman of the Board, which Johnson was elected to hold, and Nathaniel Darnell was elected as the new GRA President, operating as the C.E.O. of the organization. This change helped to share the workload and oversight of the growing state-wide organization.

Another major development occurred in 2023 when the GRA formally launched its campaign for the Accountability Rule based on the constitutional right to “Freedom of Association.” The party had always possessed this power but there were no explicit procedures in place for how to exercise it. While the Accountability Rule never got heard on the convention floor in 2023, the campaign for the rule proposal, and the conversations it started, helped to familiarize the GOP community with the concept. 

The idea spread like wild fire. Republicans across the state were inspired by knowing they don’t have to allow themselves to get betrayed by fake Republicans. 

The election integrity movement of 2021 had given rise to a greater demand for accountability with the Republican Party, as people witnessed elected officials and party officers failing to implement the reforms needed to make Georgia  noelections secure. People were frustrated – tired of the status quo. That community was broader than GRA members, and they made up what one might call the GOP Accountability movement. To those in this movement the Accountability Rule was a hopeful breeze of fresh air. 

By early 2024, four different county parties had amended their county bylaws to adopt a local version of the rule, but it was Catoosa County who boldly implemented it, attempting to block four RINO County Commissioners from qualifying on the Republican primary ballot in March. Emboldened by this example, additional county GOP organizations passed local rules similar to Catoosa’s. 

 “The Bible says that ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’ We are grateful that God has provided the GRA with the people and the funds needed over the years,” said Darnell. “Time would fail us to try and recount all the great work of all the members over the last decade who sacrificed their time and treasure to build this organization and advance its mission. I am honored to get to work with so many great patriots.”