Georgia Republicans are being flooded with the best campaign money can buy. But money can buy ads, consultants, mailers, and slogans. It cannot buy a record.
I have been interested in politics for as long as I can remember. I have been involved in the actual Georgia Republican Party organization since 2009 — about seventeen years now, in addition to studying politics in college, before law school.
That is long enough to notice a few patterns.
There is the general public — We the People — who usually vote for the party that most closely reflects their values. They may not attend conventions. They may not read every platform plank. They may not know every county chairman or district officer. But they generally know which direction they want the country to go, and in November they vote for the nominee of the party that best represents them, and that party, statistically, tends to be the same one year after year.
Then there are the grassroots volunteers.
These are the people who show up for free. They go to county meetings. They knock doors. They read legislation. They fight over rules. They hold elected officials accountable. They care about whether candidates actually believe and enact what they say. They care about the platform. They care about promises. They care about whether politicians remember the party that sent them once they get into office.
And then there is the paid political industry.
That industry is not primarily made up of statesmen, philosophers, constitutional scholars, or public servants. It’s not made up of people who understand political philosophy, or policy, or history. It is made up of people who say they 1know how to win campaigns. That is a different skill.
They know how to poll test a phrase.
They know how to cut a flattering ad.
They know how to buy enough television time to create a rags to riches story to make a stranger feel familiar.
They know how to make a candidate with no record sound like a movement.
They know how to make a man with a voting record look worse than a man with no voting record at all.
And most importantly, they know this: if they spend enough money, repeat the same message enough times, and flood enough mailboxes, a certain number of voters will eventually believe whatever they are told.
That is the whole business model.
The paid political industry does not need you to be informed. It needs you to be impressionable.
It does not need you to remember what someone has done. It needs you to react to what someone’s ad says this week.
It does not need a candidate with a history. In fact, a blank slate is far easier to sell. A blank slate has no bad votes, no hard choices, no public record, no years of decisions to defend. A blank slate can be whatever the consultants say it is.
The GRA membership has been busy working to get out the vote for their endorsed candidates in the May 19th Republican Primary.
They’ve been spreading the word about Meet & Greets, door-knocking, phone-banking, sign-waving, donating, and posting on social media. GRA member Roy Hambrick from northwest Georgia has done two broadcast interviews on his podcast with Greg Dolezal, the GRA’s endorsed candidate for Lt. Governor. As GRA members have been getting out the word, they’ve seen some of their endorsed candidates, such as Lt. Governor Burt Jones, rising in the polls.
Last week, our membership attended two Meet & Greets for Burt: One a “Boots, Bales, & BBQ” western-themed outdoor country event in Waleska. This was an event that used to be hosted as a fundraiser for Congressman Barry Loudermilk, but with Loudermilk opting to not run for re-election this year, the host re-purposed it for Burt Jones’ gubernatorial candidacy.
The second Meet & Greet the GRA membership attended for Burt was held at a country club in Dalton. The entire Republican legislative caucus from the area also showed up in support.
Today, Burt hosted a packed-out crowd a the Marietta Country Club in Kennesaw. Again, local GRA members showed up in support. Burt will host another Meet & Greet in Cobb County next week at the Adventure Outdoors in South Cobb.
We appreciate Burt’s track record in the State Senate. He’s battle-tested. He took on Geoff Duncan and Fani Willis after the 2020 election scandal, and he came out on top.
Last Saturday, GRA members went out door-knocking for State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee), the top-rated state legislator from Cherokee County with the best legislative score who is still in office.
GRA members are also phone-banking for Keli Gambril, the west Cobb County Commissioner who has a primary challenger recruited from the Chamber of Commerce. Keli has been a proponent of fiscal responsibility and efficiency and local government. In 2018, the Cobb RA endorsed Keli and helped her defeat an incumbent who voted to raise taxes. She has continued to work to promote slim and trim government since taking office.
Atlanta, GA – Today Brandyn James and Harvey Wysongfiled a “Writ of Mandamus“ petitioning Fulton County Superior Court to compel Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to hold a hearing for their electoral challenge to the qualification of Brad Raffensperger as a gubernatorial candidate in the Republican primary. This case is unique in that Raffensperger is both the candidate in question and the elected official responsible to facilitate electoral challenges whenever a voter asserts a candidate did not meet the legal requirements to qualify for a specific office.
Harvey Wysong & Brandyn James
The motion claims that Brad Raffensperger violated state law ( O.C.G.A. §21-2-5) when his office “refused to perform its duties in referring a challenge to the qualifications of a candidate for governor to an administrative law judge.”
The Secretary of State (SoS) office replied by letter on March 30th stating that there was no legal challenge and no action would be taken. State law does not give the SoS the authority to summarily dismiss a candidate challenge without a hearing.
The challenge asserts that the qualification of Brad Raffensperger by the Republican Party was illegal and an abuse of authority since the party administrators who conducted the qualification had been strictly forbidden by the highest authority in the GAGOP – the state convention – to qualify Brad Raffensperger as a Republican candidate due to his anti-Republican record.
“Raffensperger’s record is inexcusable!” said Brandyn James.
“If someone repeatedly plays Benedict Arnold and betrays his own party and the party’s commitment to fair, honest elections, the party shouldn’t be expected to accept his candidacy for the next election—and we didn’t,” said Wysong and James in an online fundraiser campaign for their legal battle.
They further expose that “Brad Raffensperger was responsible for allowing $45 Million from a Zuckerberg funded Democrat non-profit (called “Zuckerbucks”) to influence Georgia elections.”
“Fool me once, shame on you,” said Brandyn James. “Fool me twice, shame on me… We had to do something!”
Ted Metz speaking at the 2026 State GRA Endorsement Convention
Interestingly, when Garret Ashleyfiled a similar candidate challenge last month against Ted Metz, a candidate for Secretary of State, claiming he was affiliated with the Libertarian Party, not the Republican Party, Ashley received a hearing without question. Metz defended himself and the challenge was not sustained, and Metz officially qualified as a Republican candidate. However, Ashley’s case received a hearing even though there was not nearly as strong a case for his challenge as there is here against Raffensperger’s candidacy. There was no documented majority vote by hundreds of Republican Party delegates banning Metz from qualifying as a Republican for any office, as there was with Raffensperger. Why the double standard? It seems obvious.
Some have claimed the motion passed by the GA GOP Convention banning Raffensperger was illegal and therefore the party had no responsibility to enforce it. However, constitutional rights, like the right to Freedom of Association, supercede state law.
“If their view of the law is correct and the directive illegal,” said GRA 1st Vice President Nick Cooper, “then that resolution kicking Geoff Duncan out of the Republican Party was completely meaningless — meaning that Geoff has some kind of ‘right’ to run as a Republican! If she wanted, Stacey Abrams could show up and qualify to run as a Republican, and there would be no legal means for the party itself to stop her!”
This is, of course, absurd. There is no “right” to run as a Republican anymore than there is a “right” to be a pastor of a specific church when the church doesn’t want you and voted to ban you. The government cannot force a political party to accept candidates who do not represent their ideology.
Fox News reported this week that the Ohio Supreme Court blocked a RINO candidate who was “caught publicly admitting that his candidacy was part of a calculated strategy to run Democrats as Republicans in “deep red districts” to “get a foot in the door.””
In North Carolina, a candidate named Kate Barr ran as a Republican but stated: “I’m not a real Republican… I’m running as a progressive in a Republican primary.” This kind of contradiction naturally infuriates real Republicans, who believe in the principles of the party and the timeless truths that shaped the party platform.
Why do some Georgia Republicans continue to ignore this problem and oppose accountability in the party? Political parties in other countries – countries with far less freedom – like India and the UK are not at all ashamed to expect ideological adherence from candidates representing their party, and remove those who deviate from the stated ideology of the party. This is a fundamental and we contend a necessary aspect of what it means to be a political party.
“This discussion is over the idea of whether someone has a right to run as a Republican — not whether they want to run at all,” said Cooper. “It would be perfectly fine for Brad Raffensperger to run as an Independent.”
Brandyn James and Harvey Wysong have courageously stepped up to take on this legal battle, but they cannot do it by themselves. They need their fellow Georgia patriots to support them. Can you pitch in to help cover their court costs and attorney fees? If you would like to support this effort you can donate to their GiveSendGo here:
The following article is primarily a guest post from GRA member from Chatham County, Jerilyn Gibbs:
1. Rick Jackson’s true target : TRUMP and the MAGA Movement
Defeating Trump-endorsed & GRA-endorsed Burt Jones is Jackson’s path to discrediting the power of Trump’s endorsements. If successful, Democrats would frame the Georgia governor’s race as a referendum on Trump — and Jackson knows it.
2. Jackson is not and never has been a MAGA Republican. Proof:
He donated to Liz Chaney’s PAC weeks after she had joined Democrats in impeaching Trump.
He built his fortune through nearly $1 billion in lucrative state contracts while donating heavily to Brian Kemp, Brad Raffensperger, and Geoff Duncan (now a Democrat).
Jackson is suspected of ties to the out of state dark money behind the smear campaign against Jones (via “Georgian for Integrity,” now facing formal ethics charges). Even if not directly tied, he has amplified the same attacks.
This is why the bipartisan Georgia Senate just voted 50-1 to pass a bill empowering the Georgia Ethics Commission with new subpoenas power against out-of-state individuals and organizations suspected of violating Georgia’s campaign finance and disclosure laws.
3. The smears distort Jones’ long-held support for rural healthcare.
Jones advocated reforming outdated Certificate of Need rules that have long badly needed rural hospitals statewide – not a special favor for Butts County. The attacks focus on a proposed hospital on land partially owned by Jones’ father. Jones response:
His support reflects a broad policy goal for better rural medical access, not a carve-out; early on, no specific site was designated.
Jones owns no part of the land or project and therefore has no direct personal benefit (no proven quid pro quo).
4. The bottom line: This is a smear campaign by someone who cannot compete on the issues. Jackson kicked off his campaign with lies and hypocrisy (including his own datacenter investment in Texas while attacking Jones over a nonexistent one on family land). How can voters trust him to advance the MAGA agenda?
Last Tuesday, the GRA’s endorsed candidate for the 14th Congressional District race, former State Sen. Colton Moore came in third place out of 17 candidates! Colton was severely out-spent in the race — even by those who garnered fewer votes than him on election night. He spent roughly half a million dollars in comparison to Clay Fuller’s roughly $2 million (including PAC money spent on his behalf) and Democrat Shawn Harris’ $4 million. Both President Donald Trump and the late Charlie Kirk have praised Colton for his “courage”!
Colton ran a clean campaign. However, some crude and unsubstantiated attacks on one of Colton’s opponents were sent out as text blasts by an unknown entity late Monday evening — and made to look as if they came from Colton’s campaign. Colton assured voters they were not from his campaign. The GRA also decried the absurdly exaggerated texts, which were clearly designed to hurt Colton more than the other candidate.
But the race is not over. Colton has also qualified in this race to run in the May 19th Republican Primary. At the Watch Party last Tuesday evening, Colton gave this thank-you message to all the many GRA members who volunteered over the last five weeks for his campaign, door-knocking, sign-waving, and phone-banking:
“There are no greater patriots in the state than GRA members,” said Moore. “You stood fast against any type of adversity and any type of threat to our freedom. You work harder than anyone else… Stay in the fight because, ultimately, the next generation depends on it!”
Democrat Shawn Harris will now face a runoff with the candidate who came in second place on April 7th. Colton stressed how important it is for Democrat Harris not to win this election. “I’m definitely going to be supporting whoever the Republican nominee is,” Colton said at the GRA 14th District Regional Endorsement Convention. “I guarantee you that. Because these Democrats, this guy [Harris] claims to be a cattleman, [but] he can’t even define what a man or a woman is! I mean, these people are on looney-tune land.”
The candidate who wins the April 7th runoff will serve the remainder of Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s term for only this year. Many of the same candidates who ran in the special election will face off again in the Republican May 19th primary, and whoever wins that and the general election in November will represent the 14th Congressional District for the next two years. The 14th Congressional District has been considered a ruby-red Republican district, so any loss to a Democrat there would be shocking.
Senator Moore’s State Senate District encompasses a substantial portion of MTG’s congressional constituency and he has won re-election by large margins. In 2024, for example, he won the Republican primary by over 70% of the vote, and then won re-election in the general election by a 78.8% margin. He also maintains a strong, loyal base of grassroots support as a result of his principled voting record and numerous strong stands at the state capitol.
MTG has also been cherished in her district for being assertive in advancing Republican principles, and it is likely that the voters in her district will look for a successor with similar characteristics, which would provide Colton with an advantage. However, a competitive congressional campaign would require significant fundraising to ensure he can effectively communicate his message to voters.
Blake Elsberry
If Colton decides to run for Congress, there will likely be a rapid scramble to fill his Senate seat. Former Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry‘s name has been floated as a possible candidate, as has State Rep. Mitchell Horner from Catoosa. Undoubtedly other less-principled candidates will also jump into the fray. Elsberry developed a strong reputation as a principled county commissioner during his tenure — even when those decisions came at personal or political cost.
The GRA intends to assist our local chapters in the 14th District to organize a Candidate Forum & Regional Endorsement Convention shortly after candidate qualifying. So stay tuned.
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.
Last Saturday, Republican Assembly members from Cobb, Cherokee, Pickens, Gwinnett, and Fulton counties met to hear speeches and interviews with candidates for District Party office in the 11th and the 6th—and to vote on endorsing many of these candidates!
Videos with the Congressional District GOP Chair & 1st Vice Chair candidates are available to view here and here, respectively. All Chair candidates who were not able to attend in person were also invited to submit a video presentation. Donna Watson, candidate for 6th District GOP Chairwoman, submitted a video on her candidacy, however Dr. Lisa Adkins, who is running for re-election as 11th District Chairwoman did not submit a video. Adkins is being challenged by attorney David Oles who attended. Watson has competition from Jerry Marrinich.
Click to watch the District Chairman Candidate panel.
Attorney David Oles wins the endorsement for 11th District GOP Chairman!
David Oles won the endorsement for 11th District GOP Chairman, but no candidate was able to get the two-thirds votes necessary to win endorsement in the 6th District GOP Chairman’s race.
For the 1st Vice Chairman’s race, attendees heard from Richard Jordan from Cherokee (running for 1st Vice Chairman in the 6th), Chris Mora from Pickens (running for re-election as 1st Vice Chairman in the 11th), and John Beville from Cobb (running for 1st Vice Chairman in the 6th). Absent was Joel Allen from Cobb who has also declared his candidacy in this race. You can watch the video of that candidate panel here.
Richard Jordan won the endorsement for 6th District GOP 1st Vice Chair and Chris Mora won the endorsement for 11th District GOP 1st Vice Chair.
Click to watch the District 1st Vice Chairman Candidate panel.
Attendees listening to the candidates at the GRA District Endorsement Convention
In addition to these candidates, attendees got to hear stump speeches from candidates for various officer positions in these two District organizations and from candidates for state committee. YouTube initially removed the video of these messages (for violating their “community guidelines” by making reference to election fraud) but it has been restored on our GRA YouTube channel, which you can currently watch here.
Click to see the stump speeches from the other candidates.
Below is a preliminary list of candidates who won endorsement at this Republican Assembly District Endorsement Convention for particular positions.
We hope this list will serve as a helpful guide for strong conservative Republican delegates wanting to get the best GOP leaders elected at the 6th & 11th GOP Congressional District Conventions this coming Saturday, April 22nd.
Endorsed District Candidates:
11th District GOP Chair: David Oles
11th District GOP 1st Vice Chair: Chris Mora
11th District GOP Vice Chairman of Communications: James Dvorak
11th District GOP Vice Chair of Events: No Endorsement
11th District GOP Vice Chair of Fundraising: Kelly Sirios
11th District GOP Treasurer: Ann Marie Cosway
11th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: Marcia Cox
11th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: Sandy Docherty
11th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: Todd Smith
11th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: Andy Reprieto
11th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: James Dvorak
11th District GOP State Committee from Cobb: Alicia Adams
11th District GOP State Committee from Pickens: Carolyn Childers
6th District GOP Chair: No Endorsement
6th District GOP 1st Vice Chair: Richard Jordan
6th District GOP Assistant Secretary: Katie Perry
6th District GOP Vice Chair: Siegfried Jucknies
6th District GOP State Committee from Cobb: Michael Optiz
6th District GOP State Committee from Cobb: Tess Redding
6th District GOP State Committee from Cherokee: Honey Burfield
We have received numerous requests from readers asking how they can get in contact with our GA GOP Chairman David Shafer, our GA National Committeeman Jason Thompson, and our GA National Committeewoman Ginger Howard about the vote for RNC Chair. These three people represent us Republicans from Georgia on the Republican National Committee and they will soon be voting on who should be the RNC Chair for the country.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel
Many believe that the current RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel (niece to Mitt Romney) is largely to blame for the overall poor Republican performance across the country in the last general election. Today our National Committeeman Jason Thompson announced he would be voting for Harmeet Dhillon (a Republican Assembly member) to replace her. The other two representatives of the GA GOP have signaled that they are still undecided.
If you would like to contact these three representatives about the pending vote to elect RNC Chair, click the email link for each of their names below:
