We’re in the final stretch of the general election campaign season, and the GRA is busy all across the state, working to make the biggest impact possible on November 5th!
Last week, several of us from the GRA Board were pleased to support our GRA-member Denise Burns, the Chairwoman of the 14th Congressional District GA GOP, in her special fundraiser dinner featuring hero journalist Tucker Carlson and GRA-endorsed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) at the beautiful new McClemore Resort in Senator Colton Moore‘s district of northwest Georgia. This event was primarily organized, promoted, and coordinated by GRA-members who lead the 14th District GA GOP Committee, especially Denise, Joanna Hildreth, and Jackie Harling, with help from others in the district.
As the Treasurer of the 14th GA GOP, I was thankful that the event turned out to be such a success. It was not the Buckhead corporate lobbyists who came to the rescue to sponsor the dinner, but many regular grassroots folks in north Georgia and Tennessee who admire the courageous efforts Tucker and Marjorie have taken for the well-being of the country — even when it has cost them dearly. The event ended up raising over $200,000 (gross), which is far more than we have ever seen a congressional district GOP organization in the state raise all at once!
In addition, at the dinner VoterGA‘s Garland Favorito presented Tucker with the “Truth in Journalism” award for exposing evidence of tampering and fraud from the 2020 election on his old FoxNews show before he was forced to leave that network.
Those of us on the 14th District Committee met shortly thereafter to put these hard-earned funds immediately to good use to help our key Republican nominees in the district facing Democrat opposition. GRA-endorsed candidate Gary Chaffee, for example, received the maximum contribution for his State House race. But the committee was also careful to reward only principled Republican candidates, not RINO incumbents who can get backing from Speaker Burn‘s House “Republican” Caucus, where their loyalties obviously lie. I’m proud of the committee for taking that approach. It is good to reward real Republicans who actually uphold and advance the principles of the platform.
Meanwhile, Georgia has been seeing new records of early voting turnout around the state. Have you voted yet?
One of the friendly neighbors in my precinct I had the pleasure of meeting while canvassing for candidate Brad Wheeler.
GRA members have been volunteering as poll workers and poll watchers. We’ve been out door-knocking and sign-waving for local Republican candidates. In-between the work, some of us have managed to squeeze in a rally or two with Trump or J.D. Vance.
There are only 15 days left before the polls close on Election Day. We need to make hay while the sun shines!
Tuesday evening GRA members will have a Zoom call with Trump attorney (and fellow graduate from my law school alma mater) Mark Meuser from California.
It will be vital that we be all on the same page and coordinated about how to handle any possible election fraud that comes to light on November 5th.
Since we still have to put up with the Dominion voting machine systems for this election, please be sure to encourage all of your friends and family to be careful to review their printed ballot before submitting it to ensure the selections match the choices made on the computer touch screen. There have already been reports of inaccurate printed ballots in some cases.
Let’s stay vigilant and keep pressing on for victory!
Etowah RA chapter members at the rally.J.D. Vance at a rally in Rome, GeorgiaGRA ladies Joanna Hildreth & National Committeewoman Amy Kremer
Over the last week, the Democrat Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been making a big to-do, alleging that state laws that protect some children from abortion murder are to blame for the death of Amber Thurman. However, fact-checking reveals the following:
The 2022 Amber Thurman story is a case of medical malpractice.
The treatment Amber needed, a dilation & curettage (D&C), to remove the body of her murdered twin babies, was and remains completely legal under Georgia’s current “Heartbeat” law.
Amber died two years ago in 2022. The only reason we are just now hearing about her story (two years later) is because it is an election year and the pro-abortion Left is exploiting her death for political purposes.
Amber died of a known risk listed on the abortion drug’s black box warning — a risk the pro-life community frequently warns people about.
Leftists falsely claim “abortion is safer than Tylenol” but 1 in 25 women go to the emergency room with complications after taking the abortion pill!
Amber Thurman
Therefore, the real blame for Amber Thurman’s death should be put upon those who are touting these abortion murder pills as safe for the health of the mother.
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.
Woodstock, GA — State Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) last night spoke to a precinct dinner hosted by North Metro RA chapter President Richard Jordan in Cherokee County. Beach’s Senate district includes much of east Cherokee County and a portion of north Fulton County, and Beach faces Democrat opposition in the general election. He encouraged the attendees at the dinner to rally behind President Donald Trump in the race, and praised his integrity while highlighting how damaging the polices of the Biden / Harris administration have been over the last four years.
Sen. Brandon Beach
During the Q&A portion of his presentation, Beach answered a number of questions on a variety of issues. In particular, Beach expressed his support of GA GOP Chairman Josh McKoon‘s recent proposal to have the GA GOP Executive Committee vote to block Geoff Duncan from ever being able to qualify to run for office again as a Republican. “I don’t understand how you can consider yourself a conservative in any way if you support the radical agenda of Kamala Harris!” he said.
The GA GOP Executive Committee in early August decided to draft a proposal on that subject that will be voted on in a future meeting. The vote would only require a simple majority of the 28-member Executive Committee, or 15 votes. The GRA has been reminding the GA GOP of their power protected under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and parallel provisions in the state constitution of a “right of association,” and we applaud this proposed action regarding Duncan. The GOP E.C. already possesses all the accountability power necessary to block fake Republicans like Duncan or Raffensperger and we are grateful for this step in the right direction.
On the other hand, Sen. Beach said that both he and Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R-Jackson) hoped the Senate Republican Caucus would welcome back Senator Colton Moore (R-Trenton) very soon. Sen. Moore was suspended from the Senate Republican Caucus last September for calling out fellow Republicans in the Senate for not supporting his proposal to sanction Fulton Democrat D.A. Fani Willis in her harassing lawsuit against former President Trump. Beach indicated that most of the tension on restoring that relationship is coming from the State Senate President Pro Tem Sen. John F. Kennedy (R-Macon).
Marcia Cox reports on progress in Cherokee County.
Beach also expressed his support of on-going Election Integrity reform. He reminded the audience that it was he and Burt Jones who ran afoul of then-Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan by speaking out on election integrity after the 2020 election, and they were punished by Duncan for doing so.
GRA-member Marcia Cox from Cherokee also gave a report at the meeting on outreach efforts in the county, and reported that the Cherokee GOP membership has grown to a record-breaking level as people are rallying together to help in the general election.
Participants at the meeting last night also got to meet Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s sweet mother who was in attendance.
Richard Jordan leads the meeting.We enjoyed getting to meeting MTG’s sweet mother.
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.
We’d like to invite you to join us on Thursday evening, August 22nd, for a special pre-release showing of the final cut of the Reagan Movie! About twelve years ago, when I was paying my way through law school while working as a film editor in San Antonio, I had the pleasure of meeting the filmmakers behind this movie when it was in the early stages of pre-production. I can’t tell you how excited I am that they finally got it made after all these years!
My wife and I had the delight of seeing an early cut of the film back in May, and it brought tears to our eyes. While there are many excellent documentaries about the life of our 40th President, we have never seen a dramatic film made about him before that was not out to make him look like a bafoon or heartless. What people will see in this film is a moving depiction of Reagan’s heroic presidency in spite of his flaws. It pays honor to a man who helped to tun the tide of American history. The Republican Party, and the world, has not been the same since Ronald Reagan.
So what a great way for us to get in the mood right before campaigning gets into high gear for the November General Election than to go and see this movie together! Supporting the movie will also support the brave independent filmmakers who have labored for so long to bring this to the screen.
Come join us on Thursday evening, August 22nd, at 6:00pm for this special pre-release showing of the FINAL CUT of the new Reagan Movie — hosted by the Cobb County Republican Assembly chapter! The showing will be at the NCG Acworth Movie Theater. Those who register will receive a drink and popcorn along with their movie ticket!
Seating is limited! There is an early bird $5 discount if you register before August 20th.
Here is a summary of the event:
Reagan Movie Night Location: NCG Acworth Movie Theater 4421 Cinema Dr, Acworth, GA 30101 Time: 6:00pm EST Cost: $35 for movie, popcorn, & drink
Funds raised go to the support of local Republican candidates in the general election.
Atlanta, GA — An estimated over 300 election integrity activists from every corner of the state showed up at the State Board of Elections Meeting and a Press Conference (organized by Georgians for Truth) Tuesday at the State Capitol, filling up three rooms! Many of us from the GRA were pleased to be among them. With so many items on the agenda, the meeting progressed into a second day.
Chairman JohnFervier (appointed by Governor Brian Kemp) displayed what appeared to be hostility to the election integrity activists by throwing a curve ball in changing the process for how people could sit in the main room. In the past, access to the main room has been based upon first-come-first-served, but the Chairman imposed a new system whereby attendees had to receive tickets to get a seat, and priority was given to members of the press and state legislature in order to have access to the main room. Several who arrived early to get a seat were told they had to move to an overflow room because they did not have a ticket.
Jason Frazier
The GRA’s Election Integrity Action Group Chairman Jason Frazier observed about the meeting: “I would be surprised if Fervier makes it to the end of his term. Pressure is building. Meetings went from quarterly to 3-4 days/month. He is no longer the alpha in the room. Hundreds of people are showing up, thousands more watching. He has lost control of the meeting. People that know him and his family say that he wasn’t like this, etc.” He described Fervier’s actions as “Waffle House,” a play on Fervier’s career as an Executive at the company.
GRA-member & 1st District Chairwoman Kandiss Taylor summarized the situation on the State Elections Board well when she wrote on X that it “has [three] ethical, moral, election responsible members. They have a liberal [D]emocrat as well as a Kemp appointed Chairman that both are fighting the Georgians who just want truth and accountability.”
So far both Republican Party appointed Dr. Janice Johnston and GA State House appointed Janelle King have been the most reliable leaders of election integrity reforms on the SEB, although even they mused aloud that some of the rule proposals presented this week crossed the line, in their minds, from rule-making into possible legislating, in particular one that would have substituted Dominion computer voting for paper ballots under particular circumstances. State Senate appointed member Rick Jeffres is increasingly voting with Johnston and King in favor of rule reforms. Democrat appointed member Sara Tindell Ghazal and Kemp appointee Chairman Fervier are more often finding themselves voting together in the minority.
GRA-member and Cobb GOP Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs pointed out the problem of the SEB not having their own legal counsel, but being strapped to the counsel of the Secretary of State. “How many times are y’all going to allow a data breach form the Secretary of State’s office before you do something about it?” she asked.
GRA-member Matt Rowenczak testifies at the SEBMeeting Tuesday.
Eyebrows were raised when a lawyer from Washington, D.C. was brought in Tuesday to testify against the need for certain election integrity reforms. Dr. Johnston asked who invited him to speak for 30 minutes in front of the Board, and Chairman Fervier replied somewhat testily that that was his decision.
The Georgia SEB received national attention this week for voting to pass a rule that would require “a reasonable inquiry” before certifying an election where there were signs of possible fraud or miscalculation. Detractors of the rule argued that the rule provision was ambiguous and could keep election results tied up in court for months.
Former President Donald Trump praised the development. “I won Alabama by a record,” he said of the 2020 election. “I won South Carolina by a record. You don’t win Alabama and South Carolina by records and lose Georgia. It doesn’t happen. All we want is honest elections. If we have honest elections in Georgia, if we have honest elections in Pennsylvania, we’re gonna win ’em by a lot.”
Update: In a 3-2 vote Wednesday, election board members Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston and Janelle King voted to report findings from the Fulton County investigation of double balloting, missing ballot images and a host of other violations tied to the controversial 2020 presidential election to the Attorney General. The vote Wednesday referred the Fulton case to Attorney General Chris Carr‘s office for investigation into 17,852 reported missing ballot images, the double-counting of more than 3,000 ballot vote images, and other election-related violations.
Remember that Trump only allegedly lost Georgia in the presidential race of 2020 by about 12,000 votes. If there were double votes on some of those, that would reduce the number to about 9,000 votes. If there are over 17,000 ballot images missing that were in favor of Trump in that election, then he would have rightfully won that presidential election — contrary to what has been reported.
Above are images of the three full rooms with attendees at the State Board of Elections Meeting Tuesday.
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.
