Newnan, GA — Saturday, GRA members from as far as Catoosa County in the northwest corner to Chatham County in the southeast corner of the state gathered to vote on approving resolutions, adopting bylaw-changes, and electing new officers to serve on the GRA’s state Executive Committee. They also got to hear from an array of inspiring guest speakers.
The body voted in favor of a bylaw change that created a new officer position on the Board and Executive Committee: Chairman of the Board. Attorney Alex Johnson, who has served as the GRA President for about a decade, was elected to this new position, freeing him up to give more time and attention to his elected position as the NFRA President while still providing counsel and oversight of the GRA and still presiding over official meetings and conventions.
Nathaniel Darnell from Cobb County was elected as the new GRA President, which the amended bylaws specify would operate more like a C.E.O. or Executive Director for the organization. Nathaniel has served as the NFRA Director for the last four years. Prior to that, he served as the 3rd Vice President. His wife Abigail Darnell was elected to replace him in his NFRA Director position.
Anne Lane from DeKalb was elected as the new Assistant Secretary, and Stephen Alligood was elected as the new 3rd Vice President, after Mrs. Darnell’s promotion.
The other elected officers on the GRA Executive Committee will be unchanged. Brant Frost V of Coweta will continue to serve as the 1st Vice President, attorney Catherine Bernard of DeKalb as the now Senior NFRA Director for the GRA, Jim Fernander of Douglasville as the 2nd Vice President, Joanna Hildreth of Catoosa as the Secretary, and Banks Wise of Cherokee as the Treasurer.
The convention also honored Walker County’s Denise Burns, who for the last term has done double-duty, serving as the GRA’s Assistant Secretary while also being the elected 14th District GA GOP Chairwoman. She decided to not run for another term on the GRA Executive Committee, given her many other duties, but the GRA praised her for her exceptional service over the last few years of growth within the organization.
The newly elected officers were joined at the convention by most of the other members of the GRA Board (pictured at top), including the local chapter Presidents and Action Group Chairmen.
One of the local chapter Presidents who spoke at the convention was Brittany Brown of the SEGRA chapter, who was also elected this year as the Chatham County GOP Chairwoman. She and Fulton County GOP Chairwoman Stephanie Endres gave a presentation on how their county GOPs were stolen by the RINO Establishment two years ago only to be re-claimed this year during convention season. Now these promise to be strategic high-population counties that could have a significant impact on the up-coming 2024 elections.
Kandiss Taylor (1st District GA GOP Chair) served as the Resolutions Committee Chairwoman at the GRA Convention Saturday. The body adopted resolutions supporting medical freedom, election integrity, the Accountability Rule, and RICO reform, while “censuring” the Republican legislators who voted for the Mental Health Parity bill, H.B. 520 last year. Kandiss encouraged the activists to reserve ammunition for the RINOs and Democrats rather than firing on each other.
One of the keynote speakers at the convention was Garrett Ziegler, founder of Marco Polo — an opposition research group. Mr. Ziegler served as the Associate Director of Trade & Manufacturing Policy under former President Donald Trump. He spoke at length especially about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
In addition, attendees got to hear the latest report from Georgia Freedom Caucus leaders Mallory Staples, State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee), and State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade). Moore and Byrd concluded the special legislative session with the rest of the Georgia General Assembly last Thursday, and now are preparing for the regular legislative session starting in January 2024. We honored Charlice and Colton with special awards for their courageous statesmanship:
