Georgia Republican Assembly members are ecstatic about the results from the General Election this past Tuesday! Obviously, we are thrilled that our NFRA–endorsed candidate for POTUS Donald Trump made history by becoming the first since Grover Cleveland (1837 – 1908) to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. But far more significantly, we are excited about the real policy differences this election win forecasts.
This election revealed that at least 72 million Americans have not been completely brain-washed by MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, and other “fake news” legacy media outlets.
With a newly won Republican majority back in the U.S. Senate and a renewed Republican majority appearing to materialize in the U.S. House, Trump is poised to make strides to accomplish a lot. “With these wins, Republicans need to make hay while the sun shines to implement as many changes as possible while they have the majority,” said GRA President Nathaniel Darnell. “No more playing it safe to try to stay in power (which always eventually back-fires)! They need to get as much good done as possible while they can!”
This election represents not only a warm embrace of the policy changes proposed by the Trump-Vance ticket, but also a firm rejection of the clown world policies that have accelerated under Democrats over the last four years! Americans don’twant the wild Woke policies of trans-your-kids, push DEI, make taxpayers pay for trans surgeries for prisoners, pit the skin colors and the sexes against each other, finance both sides of a war across the world, cutoff energy pipelines in our land, and compel private social media outlets to censor anyone who disagrees!
Americans want to open up our oil pipelines, protect the border, lower our tax burden & inflation, provide a healthy environment for Americans businesses and workers, support medical freedom, cut waste and overregulation in the federal bureaucracy, and many other strong policies that the team Trump is assembling, appear well equipped to advance.
GRA-member Marjorie Taylor Greene also won reelection for her 14th GA Congressional seat with 64.39% of the vote, and GRA-endorsed Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-9) won re-election with 69.02% of the vote in his race. They will no doubt be among the Republicans in D.C. working hard to implement positive changes quickly.
President Trump’s indication to include other notable leaders like Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, Robert Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, Ron Paul, and Joel Salatin in areas of his administration where they excel, gives hope for real progress on the horizon.
There’s no disputing that all eyes were on Georgia Tuesday as the election results arrived. At the latest tally, it appears that Trump beat Harris in Georgia by 117,812 votes.
Several factors contributed to ensure Democrats did not effectively cheat state-wide and to make sure Trump’s success was “too big to rig!”
For one, the legal team did not get caught flat-footed.
One of the most critical things was the success by GA GOP Chairman Josh McKoon(working with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley) to expedite an appeal to the Georgia State Supreme Court over the weekend. The high court responded by ruling that no non-military absentee ballots could be counted if they were received after Election Day. That cut off an avenue for the Democrats, in places like Fulton County, to stuff sufficient ballots in Georgia to overturn the results. If it wasn’t for that accomplishment, we might still be in suspense today, awaiting the final election outcome.
For another thing, GRA members who have been positioned in key county and congressional district GOP leadership positions worked hard with their teams to get out the vote. The massive early voting by Republican voters in all counties was crucial. Even in counties in metro-Atlanta that are now eclipsed by majority Democrat voters, the Republican raw vote was essential.
For example, Gwinnett County brought in 172,812 votes for Trump, Cobb County brought in 168,286, and Fulton County brought in 142,912. If you subtract those results from any of those counties, Trump would not have won. Even DeKalb County with its 62,482 votes for Trump helped to push the margin of victory far enough from the Democrat’s clutches so as to render it too significant to steal the election.
That is why it was valuable to have so many Republicans running in down-ballot races, even in places that were considered too blue to win. We are grateful for all of those who put in the effort to recruit candidates before March this year!
In addition to the top-of the ticket victories, our GRA members in local GOP leadership also enjoyed other hard-fought wins in their communities. For example, in Whitfield County, GRA member Eddie Caldwell (Whitfield County GOP Chair) and his team defeated a Democrat who has held office as Sheriff for 32 years!
In Cobb County, GRA-member Salleigh Grubbs (Cobb GOP Chair) resoundingly defeated an M-SPLOSTincrease proposed by the Democrat commissioners and helped Republicans retain majority control of the county School Board. Brad Wheeler and Randy Scamihorn were incumbent Republicans on the school board who had been targeted for removal by the Southern Poverty Law Center after they opposed trans and other perverse indoctrination taking place in classrooms behind parents’ backs.
Meanwhile, Middle GA RA Chapter leader Troy Cook overwhelmingly won his race for Crawford County Commissioner District 2 with 67.45% of the vote.
The third main contributor to success on Tuesday was that so many GRA members and other grassroots activists have worked tirelessly and vigilantly over the last four years to push hard for real election integrity reformin our state. Although not everything we’ve been fighting for has yet been accomplished, the wins we have experienced definitely made our election systems much less vulnerable to the Democrats’ potential cheating efforts than they were in 2020.
The Georgia State House Republican Caucus has been slowly diminishing its majority in the legislature since 2016, first under David Ralston‘s leadership and now under his successor Jon Burns. In 2020, Republicans lost five seats in the State House. In 2018, Republicans lost nine seats. Not since the election of 2016, when President Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, have Republicans in the State House not lost seats in their caucus.
During the wave of the T.E.A. Party movement in the first half of the 2010s, Republicans saw steady gains in the Georgia legislature and across the country. But as Republicans have failed to live up to the promises of reform made under that movement, Republican voters have grown increasingly disillusioned.
The State House has also developed a reputation of being the more Left-leaning of the two legislative chambers at the State Capitol. They have blocked and watered down Election Integrity reform, they pushed the notorious ominous “Mental Health Parity” bill (socialized medicine), they have locked up pro-life and medical freedom legislation so that it is not even allowed to be discussed in committee, etc., etc., etc. This year they sanctioned State Sen. Colton Moore when he accurately began to speak on the harmful legacy of the late Speaker David Ralston.
Janelle King
About the only significant positive achievement the House can claim is the appointment of Janelle King to the state Elections Board this year.
Even this year’s legislative accomplishments touted were a mixed bag, such as the election integrity reforms that don’t do into effect until two years from now, or the “school choice” voucher system that will likely lead to new government intrusions into private education (“with shekels come shackles”).
However, we are not discouraged because GRA members are making huge strides to provide needed accountability to our state legislators! When Republican politicians don’t advance true Republican policy, GRA members are ready to expose the truth to the voters in their community. GRA members are using our scorecards across the state to inform the electorate, organize local chapters, recruit and endorse principled candidates, and sacrifice the time and treasure required to save our state from fake Republicans.
If you would like to help continue building on the successes of the last year, please consider becoming a GRA member today!
The Georgia Republican Assembly (GRA) expresses its profound outrage following the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump at the Mar-a-Lago golf course. This alarming incident marks the second time in just two months that a threat has been made against the life of our nation’s leader, and it underscores the urgent need for accountability and justice.
The GRA is grateful that President Trump emerged from this harrowing experience unscathed. His safety is a relief to all who value the principles of democracy and the rule of law. We commend the quick actions of the Secret Service and local law enforcement, which ensured the former president’s protection during this dangerous situation.
We call upon law enforcement agencies to swiftly identify and prosecute the assailant, as well as any co-conspirators involved in this heinous act. It is imperative that those who threaten the lives of public figures are brought to justice to prevent further violence and intimidation.
Furthermore, the GRA urges the media to temper their rhetoric regarding President Trump. The false narrative that he poses a threat to democracy, fueled by baseless allegations, creates a dangerous environment that emboldens unhinged individuals to commit acts of violence. It is crucial for the media to recognize their role in shaping public discourse and to refrain from inciting further division and hostility.
In these challenging times, we must unite in our commitment to protect our leaders and uphold the democratic values that define our great nation. The GRA stands firmly with President Trump and calls for an end to the political violence that threatens the fabric of our society.
To see the press release the GRA put out on this subject, click here.
Rome, GA — Federal Judge Billy Ray yesterday issued his opinion in an attempt to dismiss the Catoosa GOP case brought in federal court. At issue is the Catoosa GOP’s right of freedom of association and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This dismissal provides grounds for the Catoosa GOP to appeal, and take the case to the next level in the federal court system for review, and that is exactly what they are going to do!
Joanna Hildreth
“In spite of this hurdle,” said Catoosa GOP Chairwoman Joanna Hildreth, “we are going to continue to push this case forward and expect that we will prevail in the end!”
“We applaud the Catoosa GOP for continuing the fight for accountability within the GOP by appealing this dismissal,” said GRA President Nathaniel Darnell. “We feel confident that as this cases moves its way up in the appeals process, closer to the U.S. Supreme Court, the likelihood of the court ruling in their favor rises substantially due to the clear judicial precedent.”
As you may recall, back in March the Catoosa GOP conducted candidate qualifying and they implemented a new procedure that required all candidates wishing to run as a Republican to interview with the party officials to determine if the candidate shared Republican ideology. Four candidates who were incumbent commissioners with a record of raising taxes, restricting the rights of citizens to own chickens, or had endorsed a Democrat, were refused because the local party believed they did not meet the minimum qualification to be called a “Republican.”
Rather than running as Independents or Democrats, the four candidates chose to sue the local party, and a local judge ordered the board of elections to place the candidates on the Republicans Party primary ballot against the will of the party.
Recent SCOTUS precedent on this subject have been unequivocal in protecting the rights of persons and entities in both their associations and their speech. If civil governments can get away with forcing a candidate to be able to run as a Republican, then that opens the flood-gates for violations of other associations. According to the same logic the government could force a Baptist Church to accept a Buddhist or Atheist as an ordained minister in their church. The government could require Coca-cola to have an executive from a corporate competitor like Pepsi on their Board! There is no limit to how association rights could be violated.
In the opinion, this lower court federal Judge here has taken the bait from the attorneys representing the R.I.N.O. candidates and attempted to dismiss the case supposedly on a lack of standing. The reasoning is that since the Catoosa GOP was not supposedly forced to qualify the candidates to run in the Republican Primary, but instead the government forced the BOE to go around the Catoosa GOP and allow them on the Republican primary ballot, that therefore the Catoosa GOP suffered no injury in being forced to associate as Republicans with the candidates.
Most people today consider the old “arranged” betrothal approach to marriage, where guardians selected their children’s marriage partner for them without their consent, as absurd. But that’s what you have here. The reasoning is like saying: “Your right to choose your marriage partner wasn’t violated because you didn’t make the choice on who you would marry. Your guardians made that decision for you.” Huh?
The opinion at least acknowledges that in the Dukes case precedent the state party was allowed to block a candidate from running as a Republican in a federal presidential election, but alleges that this is different here because this case involves counties. Again, huh? So a state party can block a candidate from running for nation–wide office, but a county party cannot block a candidate from running for county office? Based on what line of reasoning? How is that equitable? The judge fails to explain.
Obviously, a county party cannot block a candidate from running for state or federal office. But that is not what we have here. In this case we have a county party operating totally within its jurisdiction to block only county candidates from running as Republicans in the county only.
The opinion furthermore cites a state law in an attempt to use it to super-cede constitutional law. We all know that constitutional law trumps statutory law. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-153 is cited, saying that “all candidates for party nomination in a state or county primary shall qualify as such candidates in accordance with the procedural rules of the their party” provided that the candidates meet the other statutory requirements (emphasis added). The argument the R.I.N.O. candidates’ attorneys have been making from the beginning is that candidates are only required to follow procedural requirements, and may not be subject to substantive requirements (i.e., whether they vote in accordance with Republican policy positions).
This line of argument assumes that substantive requirements and procedural requirements are necessarily mutually exclusive. They are not always. In the case of Catoosa GOP, the elected GOP committee voted to make a substantive review of a candidates’ past performance and messaging as part of the procedural requirements for running in the Republican primary. Procedurally in Catoosa, the county GOP has to vote to approve a candidate before they are allowed to qualify. It is similar to a church or denomination being able to reject an applicant for minister if they find evidence that suggests the applicant does not share their doctrines.
The Republican voters in Catoosa County elected the Catoosa GOP leadership with the power to set such procedures and to review such candidates so that they could inform the low-information Republican electorate in the community (who don’t have time to scrutinize the candidates) whether they will truly represent the minimum standards necessary for the Republican brand. It is a violation of the voter’s rights to steal this protective ability from their elected representatives.
Ballot Questions
The rest of the opinion deals with the ballot questions the Catoosa GOP submitted for the Catoosa Republican Primary ballot. The judge argues that the ballot questions may be blocked in this case because it’s the government who is providing the ballots that the Catoosa GOP is using. The idea is that the ballot questions might appear to be an endorsement of the Catoosa GOP’s speech by the government.
But ballot questions often present messages that are controversial about a plethora of subjects. Allowing the government to start screening and filtering out ballot questions on particular topics means that a government could effectively have the power to block any questions that dealt with something about which the government disagreed.
The recent opinion issued by the Attorney General’s office is a glaring contradiction to his public statements made just weeks ago. On August 1, 2024, the Attorney General Chris Carr emphatically declared on social media that he would “investigate specific claims of voter fraud” and that his office was ready to “prosecute any voter fraud found in the State of Georgia.” Yet now, he claims that his office is not required to investigate the very fraud referred to him by the State Election Board (SEB), dismissing their request as beyond his statutory obligations.
This about-face is not only hypocritical but also a clear evasion of the responsibilities vested in the Attorney General under Georgia law. O.C.G.A. § 45-15-4 explicitly authorizes the Attorney General to employ private counsel for any branch of state government, including for investigations into matters as serious as election fraud. Additionally, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-31(5) mandates the SEB to investigate election irregularities and report violations to the Attorney General for further investigation and prosecution. The Attorney General’s refusal to act on this referral, especially after publicly vowing to tackle voter fraud, is a betrayal of the trust placed in his office by the people of Georgia.
The Attorney General’s current stance is a deliberate misreading of his role. By refusing to investigate, he is abdicating his duty to uphold the integrity of our elections. The people of Georgia deserve an Attorney General who backs up his words with action, not one who hides behind legal technicalities when it’s time to deliver on promises made to protect our republic.
Some Good News
In other news, in spite of the State Board of Elections Meeting this Monday being made virtual, it turned out to continue to build momentum for election-integrity advocates as the Board voted to pass some additional good rule proposals by their usual 3-to-2 majority.
One key proposal that passed would require county Boards of Elections to reconcile the paper ballot receipt count with the computer tabulators. One would think that this would have already been in place, but it was not.
Even though they were not allowed inside the meeting room at the state capitol, several election integrity advocates still showed up a the capitol to promote the cause.
After the huge attendance of election integrity advocates at the state capitol for the last several State Board of Elections meetings, Governor Kemp’s appointed Chairman for the Board, John Fervier announced that the next meeting(s) would only be virtual online.
The next Board Meeting is scheduled for August 19th. “I wonder if the first item of business,” said GRA Chairman Alex Johnson, “should be to vote to have all in-person meetings in the future unless there’s an emergency agreed to by at least three members?”
By making the SEB meetings virtual they are preventing election integrity activists from providing in-person, demonstrable proof of concerned voters, holding signs and getting media attention for election reform, thus making them easier to ignore. No doubt the Chairman probably hopes to squelch the growing momentum within the movement and prevent the morale boost that results from seeing hundreds of fellow activists joining forces from around the state. But election integrity activists have decided to double down.
He also suggested the board members who are not afraid of concerned citizens perhaps book a room at the Capitol where they can log in to the virtual call and allow the public to join. This would help the voters participate who are technologically challenged. Please suggest this option in your email to the SEB members. Frazier also suggested everyone contact Governor Kemp as well.
This news broke as Attorney General Chris Carr announced that he would follow the State Board’s recent vote calling for him to investigate evidence of problems with the Fulton County elections from 2020. Carr said in a statement: “The State of Georgia will investigate specific claims of voter fraud. Based on the facts & the evidence, we stand ready to prosecute any voter fraud found in the State of Georgia.”
But Kandiss Taylor, GRA Member and First District GOP Chairwoman, remains skeptical. She discovered donor records showing the Republican Attorneys General Association gave Governor Kemp over $1.8 Million in four donations. She believes this is why there has been no investigation of voter fraud.
Atlanta, GA — Josh McKoon has officially used the “R” word in reference to former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan after Duncan endorsed Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Republican nominee Donald Trump. On social media McKoon even threatened to have the GA GOP Executive Committee vote to blockDuncanfromever beingable to qualify to run again as a Republican on the GOP primary ballot in Georgia.
GA GOP Chairman Josh McKoon
We commend Chairman McKoon for taking this strong stand! Cheers could be heard all the way from Catoosa County. By referencing the GOP Executive Committee’s accountability power, and the type of sanction we advocated for in our proposed Accountability Rule, McKoon is putting politicians on notice that the GA GOP will draw a line in the sand if they go too far. Duncan’s behavior definitely demonstrates a lack of loyalty to the principles and interests of the Republican Party.
A radical leftist like Democrat Kamala Harris is the antithesis of the GAGOP platform.
Last Saturday, the GA GOP Executive Committee reportedly voted to draft a document to be taken up at a future meeting on this very subject. We urge the committee to hold a roll call vote on this issue so that all Republican grassroots activists back home know exactly how their elected representatives on the GA GOP Executive Committee voted on this important subject. It may serve as a litmus test during convention season next year of who should be elected again and who should not.
Mike Crane Elected 1st Vice Chairman of the GA GOP
Also this Saturday, the GA GOP Executive Committee voted to elect GRA-member Mike Crane as the new 1st Vice Chairman on the first ballot of three candidates, filling a vacancy that has lasted for nearly three months. We commend this election! Mike was the most conservative Republican State Senator in the legislature during his tenure, and he has since served as the 3rd District GA GOP Chairman until resigning this year to run for Congress.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin — President Donald J. Trump announced his pick for running mate: JD Vance from Ohio!
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance
We are particularly excited about this decision because at our NFRA Convention last year in Orlando, Florida, the NFRA delegates endorsed seven potential candidates for Vice President — and only J.D. Vance remained on the short-list.
We appreciate President Trump hearing our counsel and advice to have a better conservative like Vance on his team, rather than some of the other candidates who were on the short list. The Freedom Index, a scorecard provided by the John Birch Society, which upholds a high standard on a variety of issues, gives Vance an 86% voting record as a U.S. Senator.
Both former President Donald Trump and Senator Vance were both overwhelmingly nominated as the Republican nominees for President and Vice President in 2024 at the convention.
Atlanta, GA — GRA members from across the state and other election integrity proponents gathered at the State Capitol Tuesday morning for the State Board of Elections Meeting where cases, public comments, and proposed rule changes were examined. It was also the first meeting where Janelle King, newly appointed from the Georgia House of Representatives, joined the Board, which seems to have had a positive impact. King recently replaced registered lobbyist Ed Lindsey.
An estimated 255 patriots attended, requiring the Board to open two overflow rooms.
Dr. Janice Johnston came into the meeting swinging from the very beginning, making a motion to revisit the Rossi case. The Chair held that motion out of order, and Dr. Johnston immediately appealed the decision of the Chair. That led to the Board going into executive session to deliberate. When the Board came back into the public forum, Rick Jeffares joined with the Democrat-appointed member of the state Board and the Governor’s appointed member Chairman John Fervier to block the effort. Off to that rocky start, things began to get better as the day progressed.
Garland Favarito was given 15 minutes to expound on concerns related to the Rossi case, such as, thousands of missing ballot images, ballots that appear to have been counted twice, and Fulton County’s unwillingness to comply with Open Records Requests to examine the actual ballots. He graciously and succinctly laid out a persuasive case for the Board and then introduced other elections experts who would also testify to the problems. According to expert computer technician Patrick Parikh, there is a loss of “SHA files” related to the meta-data in the Dominion voting machines that make them dubious and vulnerable to hacking.
Garland Favorito testifies
The public comments were overwhelmingly favorable to election integrity. Over 50 people had signed up for public comment at two minutes each. Sam Carnline, Jason Frazier, and Matt Rowenczak were among them. GRA member Holly Kessler from Savannah reported, “There is a pattern of manipulation. … I have the Ware County duplicates. … We are going into the most critical times of elections in our lives. It’s up to the [Board of Elections] to figure this out. We do support you, but we are asking you to step up and do the right thing!”
GRA member Tim Talbot from Gainesville said, “You need to act!”
Janelle King asked one of the commenters opposing election integrity reform whether saying an election was “certified” means that an election “happened” or if it means the election was “correct.”
Cobb RA member Salleigh Grubbs (the Chairwoman of the Cobb GOP) won a solid victory on a rule proposal she presented before the Board in the afternoon. Salleigh’s proposal would have clarified that before local county Boards of Elections certify an election, they must first examine irregularities or inconsistencies to make sure the election was conducted accurately. So, for example, if the number of ballots cast is different from the total number of votes, this would be investigated and corrected before finalizing the report of the election results in a precinct or county.
Salleigh Grubbs presents her proposal in the afternoon session.
Chairman Fervier objected to Salleigh’s proposal, saying that it conflicted with a proposed rule change he had on the agenda. Salleigh replied to him with a polite smile, “I like my rule better than yours.”
Dr. Johnston expressed concern that the “guidelines” in Fervier’s proposal would create more restrictions on accountability. “It’s already too complicated,” added Janelle King.
After much discussion, when the Board voted on Salleigh’s proposal, Rick Jeffares (nominated by Lt. Governor Burt Jones) was the third vote in favor of Salleigh’s proposal. King and Johnston also voted in the affirmative.
The packed room exploded in applause with that win.
