Author: Georgia Republican Assembly
Winners at the 2024 GA GOP State Convention

Winners at the 2024 GA GOP State Convention

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.

Resolutions Make an Impact!

Resolutions Make an Impact!

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 JohnstonDavid 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?”

As a result of these pressures, registered lobbyist Ed Lindsey, who has been serving on the GA Board of Elections in spite of conflicts of interest, finally resigned from his position last Friday. His replacement appointed by GA Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) is Janelle King. Remember that the next time someone tells you that resolutions don’t matter.

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.

Once elections were completed, GRA member Katie Frost from Coweta, who served as the Chair of the convention Resolutions Committee, presented the Resolutions Committee report. GRA President Nathaniel Darnell made a motion to discharge from the Resolutions Committee one of the resolutions not included in the Resolutions Committee report. One of those resolutions addressed the harassment of the alternate electors under RICCO (and praised Sen. Colton Moore‘s example) and another addressed whether Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should be allowed to qualify again as a Republican for office in Georgia.

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 resolutions did get voted on and approved by the state convention.

Statement on Texting Opt-Out Glitch

Statement on Texting Opt-Out Glitch

We’ve had some people reach out and ask us why the GRA-PAC‘s name appeared on an auto-response opt-out text that had apparently been sent out from the Georgia Examiner, pointing to an article about 2nd Vice Chair David Cross voting against the GA GOP endorsing Donald Trump for President back in January. Cross is currently a candidate for GA GOP National Committeeman.

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.

Announcing GRA Endorsements!

Announcing GRA Endorsements!

Fayetteville, GA — GRA members from around the state gathered last Saturday to hear from candidates for National CommitteemanNational 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 KremerGinger HowardJason 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.

Candidates who were endorsed by the GRA at the convention:

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde

• Andrew Clyde for GA Congressional District 9

• Beth Majeroni for State Senate District 1

• Ross Harvin for State Senate District 47

• Mary Benefield for State Senate District 55

• Brian Anderson for State House District 80

• Catherine Bernard for State House District 83

• Keith Bowen for Miller County Commissioner, District 3

• Ryan Taylor for Appling County Probate Judge

10 Candidates Endorsed at Regional RA METRO Endorsement Convention!

10 Candidates Endorsed at Regional RA METRO Endorsement Convention!

Canton, GA — Three GRA local chapters joined together last Saturday for a combined Regional Metro Endorsement Convention. Our North Metro RA Chapter (which includes Cherokee & Pickens counties), our Cobb RA chapter, and the Fulton RA chapter combined to hold a regional endorsement for local races in three congressional districts, spanning ten counties. Many GRA Members have been working for months to recruit candidates to primary RINOs and on Saturday they came together and endorsed ten candidates at this local endorsement convention.

Most of these legislative candidates at the event pledged to join the Georgia Freedom Caucus, affirmed their support for government accountability and indicated they would pattern their time in the legislature after State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade). State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee) also gave one of the keynote messages at the event, re-capping what happened during the recent legislative session, and called for more candidates to join the caucus.

GRA President Nathaniel Darnell, who presided over the regional endorsement convention, interviewed the candidates from the stage, and participating members took turns asking well-thought-out questions from the floor as well.

The GRA only endorsed candidates by a two-thirds majority of the voting members at a convention. Here below are the candidates endorsed at this regional convention:

GA State House

Charlice Byrd, HD 20 (Cherokee)
https://charlicebyrd.com

Paul Kettering, HD 22 (Cobb & Cherokee)
https://ketteringforgahouse.com

Gary Chafee, HD 35 (Acworth area).
https://chaffeeforga.com

Phoebe Eckhardt, HD 47, (Milton area, North Fulton).
http://phoebe4georgiarep.com

• Norine Cantor, HD 30 (Flowery Branch)
https://www.norinecantor.com

Michael Gordon, HD 49 (Fulton)
https://www.gordon4georgia.org

Gregg Kirkpatrick, HD 21 (Cherokee)
https://www.kirkpatrickforga.com

Judicial

Trey Goodwin, Cherokee Chief Magistrate

GA State Senate

Ben Paul Fremer, SD 32 (challenging incumbent Kay Kirkpatrick)
https://www.benpaulfremer.com

U.S Congress

Michael Pons for 11th Congressional District (Bartow, Cobb, Cherokee, Gordon, & Pickens)
https://www.mikepons.org

GRA Regional Metro Chapters Pass Resolution Supporting Catoosa GOP and Donate to Catoosa Legal Fund

GRA Regional Metro Chapters Pass Resolution Supporting Catoosa GOP and Donate to Catoosa Legal Fund

Canton, GA – On Saturday GRA Members from ten counties gathered to hold a convention where they passed a resolution supporting the accountability efforts of the Catoosa GOP.

GRA Members heartily support the right to freedom of association and were enthusiastically in support of their fellow patriots in Catoosa county who are trail-blazing the Accountability Rule that could benefit Republicans across the state.

The Resolution states that “elected officials who do not implement the Republican platform tarnish the Republican brand, discourage voters, and deter party participation”.

The resolution included a donation of $500 from two GRA chapters to help support the Catoosa GOP in this legal battle since this precedent will affect liberty-lovers everywhere. The resolution also encouraged all GRA members in the three congressional districts represented at the convention to make a personal donation to fight this lawfare battle.

The Catoosa GOP has made it known that their attorneys are all volunteering their time to help with this case, but that there are many other expenses and court costs that people can help them cover. You can donate to their GiveSendGo here:

The Catoosa GOP is merely upholding the GAGOP platform policy positions.

It is likely that Republicans everywhere – from the Governor’s mansion on down – are watching this legal battle with keen interest. It is clear that the establishment, faux-Republicans across the state feel threatened by this precedent being set in Catoosa and will stop at nothing to squash it.

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GRA Endorses Mike Crane for 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary Race!

GRA Endorses Mike Crane for 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary Race!

Congratulations to former State Senator Mike Crane for winning the GRA’s endorsement last night in the 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary at the West Georgia Republican Assembly Endorsement Convention! 👏 Mike had a stellar record as a state legislator and has served as the 3rd District GA GOP Chairman since leaving office.

We expect that Mike Crane will make a big improvement to current Congressman Drew Ferguson. In 2016, Mike made it into a close runoff with Drew in the Republican primary for the same seat. Last year Ferguson fell under criticism for backing former U.S. Speaker Kevin McCarthy and going back on his pledge on who he would support to elect as McCarthy’s replacement.

We would urge you to get to know Mike better and to support his campaign at https://www.craneforcongress.com/.

Cassandra Docherty, Chairwoman of the Speakers Bureau

Cassandra Docherty, Chairwoman of the Speakers Bureau

Cassandra is a classical trained educator who teaches Ancient History, Medieval History, US History, and American Government to junior and high school students for the last 30 years. She has also home schooled all of her seven children from kindergarten through 12th grade, 5 are college graduates and 2 are still in college. After teaching America’s greatness historically and constitutionally to her students for over three decades, she decided to become actively involved at her local GOP.

She works currently as a secretary for the North Metro Georgia Republican Assembly, an Area Precinct Manager in Cherokee County, and as a State Committee member for the 11th District. Recently she helped organize C4 Cherokee which is an organization for 17-29 year old men and women who love America, its history, and its Constitution, and who have joined forces to build a strong local government.

Cassandra’s love of America has taken her to all of the lower 48 states,  most if not almost all of the National Parks, and many of the great museums the USA has to offer (she is pictured at the Ronald Reagan Library with  Reagan’s Air Force 1 in the background), and to a great many historical sites across the country. She has also travelled multiple times across the American Continent by train, and believes the USA is united not only by the historic nomadic American Indians but also by the modern version shown by American’s love of adventure and travel. Yes, Cassandra has American-Indian blood. 🙂

Chris Watson, Chairman of the Events Action Group

Chris Watson, Chairman of the Events Action Group

The Events Action Group ensures the visibility of the organization to the public in multiple formats (Dinners, Conventions, etc.) and adds value to a member’s relationship with the GRA by providing specialized events for members to attend while expanding their knowledge, involvement, and contacts. Chris is a retired interpersonal skills trainer — at writing and speaking. Prior to retiring, Chris was a contractor for the U.S. Government for 25 years training Intelligence Analysts how to write analytical papers reporting the results of their analysis and converting their documents into verbal reports to the Intelligence Community.  He’s been a professional speaker and coach for public speaking skills.  As widower and a Republican from Kennesaw, Chris was originally a native of Maryland for 70 years. But now he says he’s “a refugee from the People’s Democratic Republic of Maryland and living in Kennesaw, GA.”