Spence Rogers reported on Twitter / X that “The RNC is making the RNC committee meetings secret so that they can update the RNC Platform with gay marriage, more immigration, and abortion.” RNC committee meetings are usually broadcast on C-SPAN.
Brant Frost V
In response, GRA 1st Vice President Brant Frost V stated: “If true, as a member of the Convention Rules Committee, I will fight against any attempt to make convention committee meetings secret. Our grassroots have a right to know what we are doing. RNC Rules should REQUIRE open convention committee meetings.”
GRA Chairman Alex Johnson, who is also serving as a national delegate, agreed, saying: “The people who elected people to committees deserve to know what’s going on in the committees and how they are acting / voting (for accountability and future trust) …”.
GA GOP Chairman Josh McKoon and Suzi Voyles (both GRA members) are serving on the Platform Committee at the RNC. Urge them to oppose these kinds of back-door changes to the Republican Party Platform.
This article was written as a collaboration of GRA members involved with our newsletter team without contribution from any attorneys involved in the litigation.
The four candidates for county commission who the Catoosa GOP refused to qualify had done such things as repeatedly vote to raise taxes, take away the rights of citizens to raise chickens, and engaged in bullying of citizens protesting at commission meetings. One of them, Vanita Hullander, even publicly endorsed a local Democrat for office. Hullander was defeated last week in the Republican Primary runoff.
Click to see the video about the candidate qualifying case in Catoosa.
When “Republican Coalition, Inc.” organizations started popping up in different communities last year, starting in Cherokee County, many grassroots activists expressed alarm about why they felt the need to start such organizations. The organizations appeared to emerge first in communities where the grassroots had taken over leadership of local GOP organizations, wresting control away from the Establishment, oriented to the power at the Gold Dome. They appeared to be part of an effort to replace these grassroots-run organizations and delegitimize them. Some new activists have joined the “Coalition” mistakenly assuming they were the official GOP organization.
In particular, concern was expressed about how the “Coalition” accepted new members and whether those members had any vote controlling the activities of the organization. Unlike the official GOP organizations and the GRA, it appears the Coalitions are run top-down by the owners of the corporations. According to one Coalition member, Brent Herrin (who is the registered agent of the incorporated “Coalitions”) did not present the idea of filing an amicus in this case to them for discussion or a vote before it was filed — unilaterally. The Coalitions, thus, appear to operate without accountability.
Click to see the video presentation “A Tale of Two GOPs.”
This latest action by Herrin and company joining the lawsuit contradicts his repeated statements of reassurance that he and the Coalition have not been seeking to undermine the grassroots within the Republican Party of Georgia.
In addition to leading the “Republican Coalition, Inc.” and its various local chapters (nicknamed the “Whiners and Losers Club” by the North Metro RA chapter), Brent Herrin was also elected last year to the GA GOP State Committee on behalf of the 11th District GA GOP, which encompasses part of Cobb County, most of Cherokee County, and all of Bartow, Pickens, and Gordon counties. As a result of this betrayal and violation of his promises, we are calling on the grassroots in the 11th Congressional District GA GOP organization to vote to remove Mr. Herrin from any position of leadership within the GA GOP. He clearly cannot be trusted.
Herrin and company want to ensure that the Republican Party stands for nothing and is a meaningless label that anyone can purchase, regardless of their belief system.
The word “amicus” is the Latin word for “friend” and is the same root from which Spanish gets the word “amigo.” An amicus brief, thus, is an argument written by someone who is not a party to the case, but who wants to provide their input to the court and share outside information. The RINOs in Catoosa County and the Cherokee-based Republican Coalition, Inc. are certainly amigos, no doubt about it.
In the brief, Herrin argues that a candidate’s payment of the fee, and satisfying the procedural rules of the party are the only legal requirements for a candidate to appear on the ballot of their choice, and that Catoosa GOP’s process wasn’t actually procedural.
But what does the word “qualify” even mean if no one can be denied? Why call it a “qualifying” process if the only requirement for getting a place on the Republican ballot is that you have paid the money? Why not call it a “payment process” instead?
The word “qualify” implies that some who apply may not be approved, and others will. If it was an automatic matter of administration, a more apt term would be utilized. The Catoosa Republican Party is merely trying to enforce a minimum standard of adherence to basic GOP policy positions, and Herrin apparently thinks that is wrong. If Herrin is a true Republican, who shares a Republican belief system, why would he oppose efforts to ensure only true Republicans are labeled Republicans? If he truly believes the Democrat program is harmful, why wouldn’t he be concerned about undercover Democrats running as Republicans in rural GA?
If candidates do not have to meet minimum standards, then the word “Republican” has become a completely meaningless term. Herrin may argue that “the Republican voters” should be able to decide who can qualify in the Primary elections, but Georgia has an open primary system which allows even Democrat voters to cast a vote in the Republican Primary, determining our nominees. On the other hand, “the Republican voters” do get to elect the leaders of their local GOP organizations, as they have done in places like Catoosa and Cherokee counties.
Crawford “Republican” Commissioners Appoint Democrat to Elections Board
Crawford County, Georgia, west of Macon
Crawford County GOP Chairwoman Janet Carter reported that three of the Republican Commissioners in her county just voted to put a Democrat (who was actively trying to start a Democrat Party organization in Crawford) on the county’s Board of Elections. They did so by replacing a Republican incumbent who was seeking re-appointment. Now the Crawford County Board of Elections consists of two Democrats and one Republican in a ruby-red Republican county! This is yet another example in Georgia of where the local county GOP would have good reason to deny these county commissioners from running for re-election in the Republican Primary — because they did not prioritize the interests of their own party ahead of the interests of the opposing party.
The fact that state law allows political parties to conduct qualifying, and that the signature of the elected GOP officers is required to make the qualification official, indicates that GOP leaders are allowed to exercise some judgment about who does and who does not qualify.
Even so, the four denied Catoosa Commission candidates took legal action attempting to force themselves on the Republican ballot, contrary to the Catoosa GOP’s procedural rules. That has led to two cases that are pending on appeal in both state and federal court. We expect that the court will eventually overturn a local judge’s actions to force the candidates on the ballot, contrary to the 1st Amendment.
Former State Sen. Mike Crane congratulates Brian Jack for winning the nomination for Congressional District 3.
There were lots of potential good news from last night’s Republican Primary runoff! In particular, Establishment-candidate Sen. Mike Dugan (who had a 35% “F” legislative vote score in 2023) was defeated by Brian Jack in the 3rd Congressional District race.
After the Republican Primary in May, Jack was endorsed by Mike Crane and Phillip Singleton, both GRA members who have been previously endorsed by the GRA as legislators for their exceptional performance. Jack has also worked previously on staff for former President Donald Trump.
Jack is expected to be a more conservative Congressman than the retiring incumbent from the district, Drew Ferguson.
In other news, GRA member Gregory Howard from Gwinnett won his runoff for the nomination in the 7th District State Senate race. He’ll now face the Democrat incumbent State Senator in a district that leans Democrat.
In Pike County, former GRA-endorsed State Rep. Ken Pullin (with an 84%-88% “A” legislative score) won his runoff for county commission, defeating the incumbent:
This win for Pullin was seen as vindication after he was pressured to abandon his State House seat when the late former Speaker David Ralston worked to gerrymander his old House district during redistricting to ensure he would not be re-elected, just as he had done to Phillip Singleton in his former State House seat.
Vanita Hullander
Also it was noteworthy that two of the incumbent Catoosa County Commission candidates who the Catoosa GOP did not qualify as Republicans in the primary lost their Republican primary runoff elections last night. Both incumbent County Commission Chairman Larry Black and incumbent County Commissioner for District 3 Vanita Hullander went down to defeat in their races. Hullander was the commissioner who endorsed a Democrat in a local race and made the absurd retort to an angry local citizen at a commission meeting, when he was complaining about how local tax dollars were being spent by the commission, that “you act like we’re spending your money personal!” The citizen replied to her, “That is our money!”
Hullander and Black took legal action in March to get a local judge to force them on the ballot. That has led to two cases on appeal in both state and federal court where we trust this violation of the 1st Amendment’s “freedom of association” clause will eventually be overturned.
Summerville, GA — On June 13th, GRA-endorsed Chattooga County Sole Commissioner Blake Elsberry signed a local proclamation declaring the month of June as “the month of Life!” While liberals bolstered by the Biden White House and ESG corporate pressures have been pushing June as unnatural sex “Pride Month,” for many conservatives, June has become the month they celebrate the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbsv. Jackson decision that overturned the notorious Roe v. Wade precedenton June 24, 2022.
Roe unconstitutionally forced states to legalize abortion murder across the country. This was not a decision made by a vote of American citizens or even their elected legislative representatives at any level of civil government, but by unprecedented judicial fiat of seven of the nine Justices on the bench in 1973. Tens of millions of preborn infants have been murdered as a result of that ruling, and the Dobbs decisions has restored to the states the opportunity to provide equal protection of preborn human beings.
Commissioner Elsberry signs the proclamation.
GRA President Nathaniel Darnell and GRTL 1st Vice President Abigail Darnell (also the junior GRA NFRA Director) were pleased to be present for the signing of the Chattooga proclamation, and we commend Commissioner Elsberry for his leadership. We would encourage other county commissioners to take similar action across the state. The Chattooga County Commissioner also proudly flew a pro-life flag presented to him at the signing.
In the Bible, God expresses such grief against “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17) that the Lord repeatedly charges civil magistrates with the responsibility to civilly punish murderers after a trial with due process, even requiring the death penalty for those found guilty. (See, e.g., Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:22-23; Leviticus 24:17; Romans 13:1-4.) A culture that winks at this evil contributes to cultivating a generation that looks callously at human life, producing more violence. Such a culture can expect to incur the same kind of providential judgment we see God bring upon nations throughout biblical history — an understanding founding fathers like Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton cited in their deliberations over adopting our U.S Constitution in 1789.
Examples of providential judgements we may already be experiencing for not taking this on-going murder seriously could include: stolen elections, continued high inflation, endless wars, a growing deficit, encroaching civil government tyranny, and general civil unrest. We must repent and turn our ship of state.
The proclamation signed by Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry.
One way you can advance pro-life accountability from Republicans in Georgia is to attend the Georgia Right to Life’s REACH Benefit Dinner! Please mark your calendar and plan to join us at the event on September 12th as we continue to work to advance equal protection for all human life — born and pre-born!
The REACH Benefit Dinner on September 12, 2024 includes a delicious meal and an inspiring program that will be held at the elegant Cobb Galleria from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Atlanta, GA — Today GRA President Nathaniel Darnell appointed Fulton County activist and GRA member Jason Frazier as the Chairman of the newly-created GRA Election Integrity Action Group.
Frazier has exposed issues like this abandoned house in Fulton County that had 20 voters registered as living there.
Since the 2020 election, Frazier has successfully challenged and removed thousands of illegitimate registrations in Fulton County. He has testified before the State Senate, influencing election integrity legislation. Last year, he was nominated to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, although the Democrat-controlled Board refused to seat him. He’s developed analytical models to identify invalid registrations and collaborated with software developers to improve registration verification.
Now Frazier is looking to take the method state-wide that he has used to successfully uncover local problems in the Fulton voter rolls. GRA members from across the state will be coordinating with him to challenge voter registrations in Georgia by people who are also registered in other states, among other things.
After joining the GRA, Frazier reached out to GRA Chairman Alex Johnson a few weeks ago about his proposed idea to build a state-wide team from the GRA for this purpose. In a recent poll of our membership, many members responded with an eagerness to join the effort.
Send us a message if you would like to be a part of this significant initiative.
GRA-endorsed candidates pulled off some impressive victories Tuesday night sure to rattle some of the RINO Establishment’s cages. Very notably, GRA-endorsed candidate Noelle Kahaian defeated incumbent State Rep. Lauren Daniel (R-Locust Grove) in the House District 81 race! Daniel had earned a legislative vote score last year of 34% “F.” Noelle beat Lauren in the newly redistricted House seat by a margin of 52.78% to 47.22% when all the precincts were counted.
The GRA-PAC was proud to sponsor Kahaian’s race early.
“RINO Wrangler” State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) also made short work of his primary challenger in his race for re-election last night. Now that the Republican voters in the district have voted so overwhelmingly (70.44% to 29.56%) to re-nominate Moore as the Republican Senator for the district, it will be interesting to see if the State Senate Republican Caucus re-admits him.
Troy Cook
In another upset against an incumbent, GRA Middle GA chapter President Troy Cookstomped on Crawford County Commissioner for District 2 Jackie McCowan, earning nearly four times as many votes as the out-going incumbent! Troy has also served as the Crawford County GOP Chairman.
GRA-endorsed candidate Ken Pullin also got one morevote than the incumbent and made it into a runoff for Pike County Commission. The GRA formerly endorsed Pullin for State House in 2018 and helped get him elected to that office. He had an “A” legislative voting score.
Pullin served for one term in the State House before the late Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) ensured his district was gerrymandered during redistricting in a way that was likely to decrease his chances of re-election.
GRA endorsed candidates did particularly well in most local races. Here is a list of our most recent tally of GRA-endorsed candidates who won their primary elections last night:
• Congressional District 9: Andrew Clyde(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State Senate District 53: Colton Moore (Catoosa, Walker, & Dade area)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State Senate District 55: Mary Benefield (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 20: Charlice Byrd (Cherokee County)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 35: Gary Chaffee (Cobb County near KSU) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 81: Noelle Kahaian (McDonough & Griffin) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 83: Catherine Bernard (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Miller County Commissioner, District 3: Keith Bowen (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Murray County School Board District 3: Tony Abernathy (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Pike County Board of Commissioners: Ken Pullin (PRIMARY RUNOFF) • Whitfield County Commission Sheriff: Darren Pierce (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Whitfield County Coroner: Clyde McDaniel (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Cherokee Chief Magistrate: Trey Goodwin (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney: Keith Higgins (PRIMARY WINNER!)
Judicial Candidates Pinson & Davis Win!
Although judicial races are technically considered “non-partisan,” we made a point of highlighting two key judicial races in Georgia this week that were successful. State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson is a Republican jurist who beat long-time Democrat John Barrow with 54.95% of the vote!
Meanwhile, Jeff Davis is a Republican jurist who won his election to Court of Appeals with 57.02% of the vote against Tabitha Ponder.
We congratulate Justice Pinson and Judge Davis on their election victories and pray that they will do their utmost in our climate of judicial “law-fare” to oppose corruption and uphold justice in our state, properly applying our constitutional laws to protect all citizens from harm.
Columbus — Over 1,300 delegates from across the state assembled at the GA GOP State Convention last weekend, electing the remaining 14 At-Large National Delegates and Alternates from Georgia to the Republican National Convention, electing the National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, and voting on proposed resolutions.
Joanna Hildreth
GRA members garnered some big wins at the convention! Six more of the 14 at-large delegates elected Saturday to the Republican National Convention are GRA members. Joanna Hildreth, our GRA Secretary and the Chair of the Catoosa GOP (which has been bravely fighting the County Commission candidate qualifying battle) was one of the delegates that was endorsed by former President Donald Trump ahead of time.
GRA 1st Vice President Brant Frost V and GRA member Caroline Jeffords were both elected to serve as the sole GA GOP representatives on the Republican National Convention’s Rules Committee — arguably the most influential committee at the National Convention.
These positions will be key as the RNC in Milwaukee looks at making several significant improvements on the rules of the national Republican organization this year. One proposal, for example, would apportion congressional districts with more Republican voters with more national delegates in the future. This would mean a district like Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s or Andrew Clyde‘s would receive more delegates than a highly Democrat-populated district like Nancy Pelosi‘s in California. Right now, all congressional districts get an even number of three delegates.
Suzi Voyles
In addition, GRA members Suzi Voyles and Josh McKoon (also the GA GOP Chairman) were elected to the Republican National Platform & Resolutions Committee. Their leadership will be key in guarding our national Republican platform, which is the contract between the Republican Party and the grassroots. We are counting on them ensuring that the national platform does not get watered down from the shining standard it has been over the last 48 years to guard “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in America. Please pray for them.
In the race for National Committeeman, GRA member Jason Thompson was re-elected. He had been challenged by GRA member Jason Frazier and David Cross. When Frazier came in third place by one vote on the first ballot, many Frazier supporters voted for Thompson on the second ballot, which put Thompson over the top. Jason Thompson was first elected to the position of National Committeeman by the GA GOP State Committee in 2017.
Amy Kremer
But the incumbent did not win in the National Committeewoman’s race. Ginger Howard was challenged by election integrity activists Amy Kremer and Shawn Cross. On the first ballot, Mrs. Cross was eliminated, and on the second ballot it appears most of her supporters voted for Kremer, who defeated Howard.
In January 2021, Kremer’s organization Women for America First hosted a “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. while, she says, the RNC was at the Ritz Carlton. Amy is a fighter, who prioritizes activism over cocktail parties. Amy and her team didn’t tell anyone to go into the Capitol on January 6th, and didn’t go there herself, but nevertheless she and ten others affiliated with the group were subpoenaed by the House Select Committee.
Columbus, GA — Some significant wins in Columbus got overlooked with all of the other activity. On Thursday, the GA GOP State Committee passed a resolution introduced by Sam Carnline with Georgians for Truth which called on the State Elections Board to follow the recommendations of Republican-appointed member Dr. Janice Johnston. David Withamattempted to water down some of the strong wording of this resolution, proposing that a “reprimand” of egregious state actors be removed. GRA Chairman Alex Johnson argued against that amendment, and GRA members on the State Committee helped to see that resolution successfully passed as originally worded.
State Committee Meeting
In an earlier State Committee meeting on February 29th, the GA GOP State Committee had passed a resolution against lobbyists serving on the State Elections Board. The committee affirmed that resolution last Thursday. The GA GOP has also added a ballot question for the Republican Primary ballot asking voters, “Should the legislature ban registered lobbyists from serving on the State Elections Board?”
The Cobb delegation was the largest present at the convention with 128 delegates.
In fact, resolutions do matter, which is why Establishment RINOs at the state convention fought so hard to thwart resolutions again this year. You may recall that resolutions did not get passed last year at the convention because the convention lost quorum. On Saturday, as soon as the agenda of the convention was presented, GRA President Nathaniel Darnell from Cobb made a motion to move the Resolutions Committee report up as the first item on the agenda. This motion was narrowly defeated, but then GRA member Amanda Prettyman from Bibb County made a motion to reduce quorum to those present at the convention. This motion was adopted.
The effect of Prettyman’s motion was to ensure that if too many delegates left after the elections, but before resolutions had been addressed, the convention would not be forced to adjourn again due to a lack of quorum.
At this point in the convention, Establishment RINO delegates attempted to force the body to adjourn. Multiple motions for “point of order” were shouted to prevent this attempt to block all resolutions while the adoption of the Resolutions Committee report was pending. Chairman Josh McKoon ruled that the motion to adjourn was out of order, and the body voted to adopt the Resolutions Committee report, which included an excellent GA GOP Platform and other resolutions.
But before the body could return to the question of discharging any resolutions not included in the Resolutions Committee’s report, the Atlanta-controlled Establishment once again made a motion to adjourn, which this time was successful. The question of whether to qualify Brad Raffensperger as a future candidate will be re-visited later, but at least this time the main body of resolutionsdid get voted on and approved by the state convention.
The Georgia Examiner is not an affiliate of the GRA or the GRA-PAC. While some of our members may be involved in the Georgia Examiner, we did not authorize the Georgia Examiner to send out texts using the name of our organization or of our PAC. After making inquiries, it seems that the reason for this error was that a third-party who has provided texting services for both the GRA-PAC and the Georgia Examiner accidentally forgot to clear their software after they provided a texting service for one of our endorsed candidates the GRA-PAC was promoting. The third-party failed to remove the GRA-PAC’s name from the automatically generated opt-out response when it set up the texting project for the Georgia Examiner.
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The GRA membership voted to not endorse in this year’s National Committeeman race, but you can see the forum we held with National Committeeman candidates on our YouTube Channel here.
Fayetteville, GA — GRA members from around the state gathered last Saturday to hear from candidates for National Committeeman, National Committeewoman, and various public offices from Congress to state legislature. Reagan Box for U.S. Senate shared as well, along with a representative for excellent “state-wide” judicial candidate for Court of Appeals Jeff Davis.
Candidates Amy Kremer, Ginger Howard, Jason Frazier and Jason Thompson all applied for GRA endorsement, interviewed with our Vetting Committee, and spoke at the convention, fielding questions from the audience. Candidates David Cross and Shawn Cross did not. We appreciate the candidates who gave of their time to share and answer questions from our members.
Under the GRA rules, a candidate has to receive a two-thirds majority vote of participating members to receive the endorsement of the organization. Although the membership could not reach a two-thirds majority on the races for National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, they did endorse candidates in other races — and the discussion at the convention provided a great deal of insight on the candidates.
You can watch highlight videos now available on our GRA YouTube Channel of some of the key sessions at the convention! Especially if you will be serving as a delegate to the GA GOP State Convention in Columbus, this will help you make an informed decision on who to vote for in the National Committeeman & National Committeewoman races.
