This coming Saturday, most of the Congressional District GA GOP organizations will be hosting their district conventions, and if you are a district convention delegate or alternate, it is imperative that you attend and help ensure we get the best patriots possible elected to leadership in the GA GOP at this level for the next two years!
In Woodstock Tuesday night, our North Metro RA chapter (Pickens & Cherokee), our Fulton RA chapter, and our Cobb RA chapter combined to co-host a Regional Candidate Forum & Endorsement Convention for the 7th & 11th Congressional Districts. We heard not only from the District Chair candidates for these races, but also from dozens of down-ballot ones.
As a result, the participating GRA membership voted by a 2/3rds majority to endorse the following Chair candidates:
• For 7th District Chairman: Richard Jordan from Cherokee County
• For 11th District Chairman: David Oles from Pickens County
David Oles speaking at the regional endorsement convention.
David Oles is the incumbent District 11 Chairman, and has been serving as one of three attorneys helping pro bono with the Catoosa GOP lawsuit against the four RINO commission candidates. In addition, he has been leading as an attorney on several premiere election integrity suits.
David has been the first non-Establishment grassroots Chairman that District 11 has had in decades (one of his recent predecessors donated to Democrats while serving as the Republican District Chairman!).
Richard Jordan has been the chapter President for our North Metro RA chapter for the last few years, and has been very pro-active in local Republican politics and election integrity reform efforts. He’s a go-getter with a gift for organization and getting things done!
The convention also endorsed on many (but not all) down-ballot races, which you can see below.
Blue Ridge, GA – On Monday, the Fannin County Republican Party hosted a candidate forum featuring MA-GA candidate for 9th District Chair Brian Parker and his opponent Stephen Aaron, a former employee of Speaker David Ralston. Fannin County activists got to witness a clear difference between the candidates as Brian Parker championed the need for the GOP to provide accountability to fake Republican candidates, and Aaron opposed it (see video timecode 51:10).
“We’ve got to have accountability,” said Brian Parker. “When you got a job, did you have an interview before you got your job? … Did you ever have a review [of your performance on the job]? Would you want to work with somebody who is not pulling their weight, or who is working against the company? No!”
Brian Parker
After the Catoosa GOP adopted the Accountability Rule and implemented an interview for county commissioners, Republicans across Georgia are beginning to realize that the Republican party must start providing some quality control to the candidates they allow on the Republican ballot, ensuring candidates meet a minimum standard, or risk severe damage to the Republican brand and demoralizing voters.
Stephen Aaron, the other candidate for 9th District Chairman, openly opposed the idea of the Republican Party providing accountability to politicians.
“All the accountability rule is is a power grab…No, I am not in favor of the accountability rule!” said Aaron. “Because, as a political party, it is our job to elect Republicans to office – Republicans that go through the primary. The primary is their interview process.”
This image taken from Aaron’s LinkedIn profile shows he was employed by Ralston.
Brian Parker noted how the average voter isn’t paying attention and often makes election decisions based on a name that is familiar to them, or the ethnicity of a candidate or some other superficiality.
Stephen Aaron worked as a campaign manager in 2014 for the late Speaker David Ralston, who was criticized for his corrupt use of legislative continuance to postpone legal cases for his law practice, that resulted in many victims not getting their day in court for several years. He was also criticized for stalling many bills through the years that would have advanced the GOP platform. In 2019, then Representative Colton Moore was one of 10 legislators who signed on to a resolution calling for Ralston to resign for his unethical behavior.
Stephen Aaron going full-blown fan-boy on his Facebook for the late corrupt Speaker David Ralston
“Any GOP officer who has been a cheerleader for legislators with as terrible, unjust, and unprincipled a record as David Ralston’s is the epitome of Establishment!” said GRA President Nathaniel Darnell. “It is no surprise to find out that the people praising corrupt politicians are often on the politicians’ payroll! The paid political industry really has no business holding office in the Republican Party, since they have an inherent monetary conflict of interest when it comes to any accountability measures.”
Last week, on the other hand, Brian Parker spoke at the MA-GA candidate forum where he gave a rousing speech in support of the Republican platform and holding politicians accountable to it. Brian has previously served alongside Ron Hooper, former GRA NFRA Director, on the Fulton Defense Fund raising over $35,000 to support the three GOP electors who were targeted by Fani Willis. Their event ranked 11th in the state for total funds raised in 2023.
“Brian has shown a deep commitment to understanding the inner workings of the GOP, and he’s proven he can handle any challenge,” said Ron Hooper. “His greatest strength is his unwavering dedication to the America First movement and the mission to Make America Great Again. He holds politicians accountable and demands adherence to the Republican Platform.”
Brian has served as the chairman of the Bank’s County Republican Party.
“As the GOP stands at a crossroads, it is clear that bold leadership is essential for the party’s future. We need more individuals like Brian Parker—principled, passionate, and driven—to help restore the Republican brand and move us forward,” said Ron Hooper.”
Last Saturday, the 5th District GA GOP organization held its District Convention a week early ahead of the other districts. A local DeKalb RA chapter made endorsements for that event in advance, and they were mostly successful.
Catherine Bernard
Anita Lane Favors was the GRA-endorsed candidate for the 5th District Chair position, and she successfully won the seat! Attorney Catherine Bernard was one of the GRA-endorsed candidates for State Committee, and she was successfully re-elected as well. Catherine also serves as our Senior GRA NFRA Director. Non-establishment candidate Rich Clarke from DeKalb also won election to the state committee.
Regretfully, Establishment candidate Travis Bowden also won re-election to the state committee when the convention had the candidates run not for specific slots. Instead, the state committee seats were awarded to the top three candidates who received the most votes. Catherine received the most votes at the convention (only one delegate voted against her). Travis received the second most votes. Rich received third place. GRA-member Julie Allen from Fulton came in fourth, and so was not elected to the state committee.
Travis Bowden
When delegates were asked how they could vote to elect Travis Bowden while also electing non-Establishment candidates such as Catherine and Rich, multiple participants said that they were simply not familiar with Travis’ reputation and track record, but were impressed with the brief speech he gave at the convention.
Travis has worked in the political industry for years, defended bad politicians, and has often been belligerent to grassroots activists across the state. This is why it is so important for delegates to really know their candidates and not be misled merely by a brief speech at a convention.
Even so, we are grateful to see progress in the heart of the Atlanta area each year! This is a long game, and we are optimistic about what the future holds.
Ringgold, GA — On Tuesday evening, the Republican delegates of the Catoosa County Republican Convention elected a full pro-accountability slate of officers in spite of heavy opposition from the rejected RINO Catoosa County Commissioners and other government employees.
The fake Republican commissioners, who sued the local party after being denied a place on the Republicans primary ballot last year, but were forced on by a local judge, mounted a force of nearly 100 people at the county convention of 214 to attempt to take over the party and neutralize any future accountability efforts. The stakes were high for both sides. If successful in seizing the Catoosa Republican Party leadership, the Commissioners could have ended the “freedom of association” lawsuit which is currently pending in the federal 11th Circuit Court. But the commissioners plans were thwarted by the accountability oriented local patriots who showed up in greater numbers.
“It was a victory for the grassroots and the Republicans that worked so hard to elect President Trump and J.D. Vance,” Chairwoman Joanna Hildreth told The Chattanooga Times Free Press. “I’m just thrilled that we had a victory tonight, because it just reinforces all the hard work that they’ve done and they’re ready to keep doing.”
Joanna Hildreth celebrating with GRA President Nathaniel Darnell
The patriot activists at the Catoosa Precinct Caucus a month earlier had successfully blocked one of the rejected RINO commissioner candidates from being a delegate, but the other four commissioners were among the delegates leading the attempted take over.
The commissioners’ contingent included the county manager, the clerk, the county C.F.O., 4 of the 5 school board members, the school superintendent, the Mayor of Fort Oglethorpe, a city council member, various appointed county board members, a couple of lobbyists including former State Senator Jeff Mullis (whom Sen. Colton Moore replaced). Not to mention a judge’s wife and another judge’s executive director. These government employees know that it is nigh impossible to get elected to local office unless they qualify as a Republican on the ballot in rural counties like Catoosa. These people, along with their families, composed a pretty formidable crowd. The battle lines were drawn disctinctly between fed up tax-payers and tax-dollar recipients who work for the local civil government in some capacity. It was truly “the swamp” versus the people.
“Today the Republican voters of Catoosa County declared that they support the GOP holding politicians accountable, by re-electing GRA-member Joanna Hildreth and members of her team!” said Nathaniel Darnell, GRA President. “This convention provides demonstrable proof that the majority of Republican voters support their local party leadership acting on their behalf and exercising the right to freedom of association.”
Long lines filled the hallways of the small town event center as delegates got credentialed, with wait times resembling the GOP conventions of much larger counties like Cobb or Cherokee due to the sheer volume.
The tension in the room was thick from the beginning and peaked when it came time to elect a convention chairman. The 14th District GOP Chairwoman Denise Burns (also a GRA member) was nominated, followed by Jeremy Jones, a public defender attorney on the payroll of the government, and the previous Catoosa County Party Chairman. Both sides knew that this vote was a microcosm for the entire convention and would reflect the voting strength of the two sides.
Denise Burns taking the gavel to chair the convention
A standing vote was called, and Denise Burns squeaked out ahead with a vote of 111 to 103 — an eight vote lead!
This proved that the community engagement and brave example of the Catoosa GOP leadership had grown the party and inspired many new members. The Catoosa GOP’s bold opposition to tax increases, cronyism and the tyrannical chicken ordinance had attracted and informed more and more voters who were united by their shared principles and their intense opposition to the tyranny they had experienced from their local government.
Chairwoman Joanna Hildreth reported that in 2023 the Catoosa GOP set an all time record for the highest attendance at their county convention, and this year’s precinct caucus exceeded that record!
GRA member & Whitfield County GOP Chairman Eddie Caldwell served as the Parliamentarian.
After the vote to elect Denise Burns as convention chairman, members from the government employees group, realizing they didn’t have the numbers, tried to make a motion to adjourn. That motion was ruled out of order, and the supporters of the RINO commissioners, who had been somewhat racous and disorderly all along, got angry and stormed out of the convention hall following the new convention Chairwoman’s refusal to recognize the outburst of an enraged delegate ranting from the floor.
They were done. A crowd of 50 or more people all vacated their seats and gathered in the hallway outside the convention hall to rant and perhaps regroup. But most never returned to their seats, giving an easy victory to Joanna Hildreth and her slate, as the business of the convention continued without them. This rash emotional decision to leave left no opposition to the nominating committee’s slate of officers, the slate of delegates to the District and State conventions, and no opposition to the 14 resolutions — five of which banned and censured the RINO commissioners by name!
The newly elected Executive Committee officers of the Catoosa County GOP
These resolutions articulated the citizens’ grievances with the un-Republicans’ policies and the actions of past Commissioners Steven Henry, Chuck Harris, Jeff Long, Vanita Hullander, and Larry Black, and officially “expelled” them from the party — banning them from qualifying as candidates of the Catoosa County Republican Party in any capacity. The resolution also demands that the commissioners “cease and desist” from calling themselves a “Republican.” This was not a decision of the party leadership but of the entire delegation at the county convention, and they were met with thunderous applause.
Other resolutions included one that condemned and censured the local Catoosa civil government for taking away personal property rights of citizens who want to raise chickens on their private property. Another resolved to block from qualifying any legislator who votes in favor of Sen. Ed Setzler’s (R-Cobb) S.B. 15 or any other legislation to make local partisan races non-partisan. This legislation appears to be a direct attack on the Republican Party, an attempt to shield legislators from any accountability, and an attempt to conceal from voters the ideological leaning of candidates.
County Republican Party organizations receive a significant amount of income from candidates when they pay their qualifying fee. Making local races non-partisan would also cut off that income from the local party and instead give any fees to the government.
This is just another example of the disdain, disloyalty and hostility elected officials have shown to the GOP, the party of which they claim to be a member.
GRA members at the Catoosa County GOP Convention GRA members at the Catoosa County GOP Convention
If the commissioners and their supporters at the Catoosa Convention hadn’t been so heated and emotional, they might could have still accomplished some of their agenda. If one member of their group had attended a GRA Convention training, they might have known how to succeed.
It is remarkable that, with so many commissioners and school board members in the room, they were not more adept at knowing the appropriate motions to achieve the outcome they desired.
We, however, are grateful that in God’s kind providence, good leadership will continue in Catoosa — as will the lawsuit to protect the GOP’s “freedom of association” provided for in the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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.
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.
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: