Pelham, Georgia — The Georgia Republican Assembly sponsored the Second District Republican Rally and Low Country Boil in southern Georgia on Saturday, October 21. The rally was held under a large shed at Montaña Produce on US Highway 19, across the street from the Flint John Deere dealership. Pelham is an agricultural community in Mitchell County.

Attendees praised the event as being much better than the 8th Congressional District GOP’s Fish Fry in August, in which the hosts came out with hostility against grassroots activists who were promoting election integrity.

After the invocation and pledge of allegiance, Georgia GOP First Vice Chair Brian K. Pritchard laid out a plan to take back the country. “The first phase to taking the country back has to be local,” Pritchard said, “We have to put candidates up for school board, good candidates up for county commission, good candidates up for city council and mayor.”

One candidate for Congress from the Second District who spoke was GRA member Chuck Hand. Chuck Hand and wife Mandy—who both spent time in jail on federal charges for attending an election integrity rally in Washington, D.C.—have been very active in the Second District GOP and in the Taylor County GOP as well. Congressional candidate Hand said, “What we’ve allowed our country to become is not a good look. I’m not here to cozy up to the status quo, ya’ll, I’m here to put them on notice.” Hand continued, ”We are not alone. There are more of us than them. We are the majority now. David took down Goliath with a slingshot and a rock. Allow me to be your rock and slingshot me into United States Congress where I will do all that I can to restore America back to America.”

The Second Congressional District is the largest geographical district in Georgia, encompassing the southwest corner of the state from Columbus to Macon and points south, all the way to the Florida state line. The Second District GOP Chairman is GRA Member Tyler Johnson, who was unable to attend the rally due to military deployment. Other volunteers pitched in to help, though, making the event a success even with the Chairman’s absence.

Crawford County GOP Chairman and GRA member Troy Cook was very involved with planning the event, and was responsible for the successful silent auction which took place during the rally. Troy said, “Even though Tyler Johnson, the Chairman of the Second District, was unable to attend due to his military obligations, he deserves the credit for the success of the event. It was because of his hard work behind-the-scenes planning, organizing, making calls to vendors, and working out the logistics of deliveries that a small group of great people were able to pull together one of the best events I’ve attended in a long time. Unlike the 8th District Fish Fry, everyone was welcome, regardless of their political stance. It was a great event with great people from all across the state.”

The large shed where the event was held was spacious and accommodating. Weather was pleasant for the gathering, with a mid-afternoon high temperature of 78 and a constant breeze from the northwest most of the day. Attendees had plenty of opportunity to fellowship, visit with vendors, and enjoy the music and food in between speeches. GRA First Vice President Brant Frost V, who also spoke at the event, later said, “It was great to see so many GRA Members in Pelham. Over the last few months the Georgia Republican Assembly has grown like a weed in southwest Georgia. And based on the reception we received the overwhelming majority of people there are with us in spirit.”

GRA member Field Searcy spoke about election integrity and the need for paper ballots. “The QR Code is illegal, and it’s a spoilation of our ballot, and we can’t read it,” Field said. “When people get informed and get engaged they can make a difference. Over the last three years people have been getting the facts, and learning the law. They’ve been standing up, they’ve been going to county commission meetings or election meetings,” Field continued, “and you guys need to do the same, and we’ll give you all the tools you need on our website georgiansfortruth.org.”

Other speakers included Georgia Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson, Freedom Caucus Representative Mallory Staples, and State Senator Colton Moore. Senator Moore spoke about the nineteen individuals who were indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Senator Moore—standing in front of a John Deere cotton harvester—asked the crowd, “If I had a spare million dollars, I’d rather buy that cotton picker behind me than defend my innocence in Atlanta. Wouldn’t you?” Legal costs for defense of the indicted individuals have mushroomed. The GRA is sponsoring the Fulton Defense Fund fundraising event in Banks County, Georgia on November 2 (https://votescope.org/fultondefensefund/).

Many GRA members were in attendance at the rally. GRA member Amanda Prettyman drove down from Bibb County. Prettyman said of the event, “I really enjoyed the atmosphere and commend the Second District Republicans and Tyler, for upholding Republican, Constitutional values of free speech. We don’t have to agree on everything, but election integrity is certainly a part of the Republican platform—even the RNC issued a resolution about election integrity and hand-counting where able—and healthy debate and discourse within the party over how we achieve election integrity is so important. The Second District upheld that and demonstrated the best of the Republican Party. It was a fun, warm, family atmosphere!”

Newnan, Georgia — A number of patriots came to peacefully rally on Friday along Georgia Highway 34 near the Newnan office of Congressman Drew Ferguson to encourage the Congressman to represent Republicans of the Third District by voting for NFRA-endorsed Congressman Jim Jordan for speaker of the US Congress, and to support our Republican values.

Earlier on Friday, Congressman Ferguson voted against Congressman Jim Jordan for Speaker of the US House. Ferguson has often been at odds with conservatives in his district, and was officially censured at the Third District GOP Convention earlier this year for—as the resolution states: “failure to keep his promise to speak and act” on behalf of his constituents. Conservative scorecards have given Congressman Ferguson low scores based on his pitiful voting record (https://thefreedomindex.org/legislator/f000465/).

Local resident and Republican activist Maxwell Britton summed up the sentiment of the crowd, “We want Congressman Ferguson to know we the people are tired of being ignored and unrepresented.” Maxwell waved an American flag and held a sign which said, “Drew votes for himself.” GRA member Laura Bosmenier drove to the rally from Fulton County, and held a sign which said, “Ferguson, Please Represent US! Vote for Jordan for Speaker.”

On Thursday, Congressman Drew Ferguson released a statement saying he would not vote for Congressman Jim Jordan because “the House Republican Conference does not need a bully as the Speaker.”

But no one at the rally is bullying the Congressman, Coweta County GOP Chairman and GRA member Brant Frost V emphasized, as he held a sign which said, “Wake Up Drew.” Frost pointed out the positive nature of the rally, “The ultimate goal is to get good pictures and video, hopefully they’ll get a mention on TV, and we’ll get tens of thousands of people to see this.”

The Press was indeed present, and interviewed several folks at the rally. GRA member and Third District Congressional candidate Jim Bennett was one of those persons interviewed. Bennett—who waved a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at the rally—said that Ferguson’s vote against Jordan for Speaker “does not represent our District. He (Congressman Ferguson) represents himself, his friends, and his donors.” Coweta County attorney Jared Craig was also at the rally. Craig, who serves as President of the Legacy Political Action Committee, said in his interview “When he (Congressman Ferguson) first started running for office, he was who these people wanted to vote for, but he has changed.”

One lady said she was in her late sixties and this was the first time in her life that she had ever come out to a public rally of any kind. Lots of passersby waved and honked horns in support of the peaceful rally.

Roberta, Georgia — Activists and GRA members gathered today at the Frozen Joe’s restaurant to charter a new local GRA regional chapter and elect officers. This new Middle GA RA (MGRA) chapter incorporates Bibb, Houston, Peach, Crawford, and Monroe counties, which are at the northern tip of the 2nd and 8th Congressional Districts in Georgia—two areas where the GRA has not until now had any local chapters organized.

Local GRA member and activist Paul White was elected as the chapter’s new local President. Troy Cook, the Crawford County GOP Chairman, was elected as his 1st Vice President. The rest of the local chapter Executive Committee team elected also includes Lisa Neisler, Edith Noriella, and Kathy Moody.

One of the major concerns expressed by those gathered was the recent treatment of patriots at the 8th District GA GOP Fish Fry a month earlier where the Atlanta Establishment-oriented Chairman Chan Jones at the last minute refused to allow ticket-holders to enter while wearing t-shirts with election integrity reform messages on them. At this charter meeting, they critiqued a maxim often promoted by the Establishment GOP: “Keep it small, rule it all!”

One of the reasons Republicans often lose to Democrats, the officers said, was because the local Establishment leadership is more obsessed with maintaining control over their “fiefdoms,” and so they deliberately keep their organization small so they can exercise more control. This is not how the GRA operates. We welcome all grassroots activists into the party who share a commitment to the Republican Party principles and are not merely interested in the popularity, prestige, and power that so enamors the Establishment with dollar signs in their eyes.

Several GRA officers and action group leaders were on hand to help with the charter, including the GRA’s 1st Vice President Brant Frost V, NFRA Director Nathaniel Darnell, 3rd Vice President Abigail Darnell, Chapter Relations Chairman David Carlson, and New Membership Committee Chairman Stephen Alligood.

The MGRA chapter scheduled their monthly chapter meetings, which they intend to give each county in the region a chance to host so they can make it easy for local members to participate. Let us know if you would like to join this local chapter’s meetings or activities.

Atlanta—Yesterday’s press conference at the state capitol calling for the legislature to investigate Fulton D.A. Fani Willis was standing room only as GRA-endorsed legislators State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) and State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee) affirmed the urgent need for a special legislative session before an ecstatic crowd that frequently broke into applause.

According to a recent poll, about “83% of Georgians across this state recognize that what is happening right now with District Attorney Fani Willis is politicization,” said 29-year-old State Senator Moore at the conference. “I represent 200,000 hard-working Georgians in northwest Georgia. The people who I represent … they sweat hard for their tax dollars, and they don’t want their tax dollars funding this type of corrupt government power!”

“We as a legislature have no power to do anything until we are in session,” he continued, “and that’s why we must have session now, because we must investigate Fani Willis.”  Concerning the indictments, Moore said that it was a political attack, and that this fight “is about basic fundamental First Amendment rights to question the results of an election.”  

Senator Moore and Rep. Byrd were joined at the press conference by a wide variety of activist leaders, including Dr. Alveda King, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots Action, Bruce LeVell, and Mallory Staples of the Georgia Freedom Caucus. An even broader array of leaders spoke at the rally at the Liberty Plaza thereafter, including Georgia Republican Party 1st Vice Chairman Brian Pritchard, 2nd Vice Chairman David Cross, VoterGA’s Garland Favorito, attorney Jared Craig with Veterans for America First, Sam Carnline with Georgians for Truth, and representatives of Blacks for Trump. State Senator Brandon Beach (R-Fulton) has also signed onto the petition for a legislative session.

Jenny Beth Martin said, “They are doing this because they want to scare you. They want to scare you so much that you’ll stop speaking out.  They want to scare you so much that you stop gathering together with your like-minded countrymen. They want to scare you so much that you will no longer express your concerns about an overbearing government, and they want to scare you so much that you will not want to get involved in our election processes to ensure they are free and fair and transparent.  What they are doing is frightening, but now is the time for courage.  Now is the time to speak louder.  Now is the time to gather in greater numbers, and now is the time to raise your concerns. Now is the time to get involved in the election process so we can secure the vote and we can win elections in 2024, and hold these freedom thieves accountable!”

GRA members from every corner of the state travelled far and wide to be there and show support. Many people present wore t-shirts or carried signs about election integrity and the District Attorney’s indictment against nineteen people in Georgia in relation to the 2020 presidential election.   

In spite of the numerous calls from constituents, many Republican politicians under the Gold Dome have been reluctant to show support for a special session to investigate Willis, citing such excuses as “not having the numbers.” The various excuses from these politicians could be summarized as “It’s really hard to do that, so we shouldn’t try.” It’s the same thing we’ve heard every time there has been a push for an urgent special session. You might call it the “Pontius Pilate” excuse: “A grave injustice is about to occur, but it would be hard to stop it. I’m just one person. It’s not politically expedient for me to intervene, so I should just let the injustice continue.”

In contrast, a principled Republican says, “I have a responsibility to ensure justice is done. It doesn’t matter how slim the chance of success, I have a duty before God to intervene.”

One speaker named Angela asked about Fani Willis, “What has she done for this community in Fulton County, Georgia since she’s been in office?  She showed up to speak for abortion when Roe v. Wade was being overturned.  But I opened a pregnancy home for women right here in her district and she hasn’t showed up for that!  They show up when it’s time for us to abort our babies, but they don’t show up when it’s time for us to give life.”

Garland Favorito of VoterGa.org said that for the past 17 years his organization has published reports of election problems in Georgia.  Garland said, “In 2020 Georgia suffered the most corrupt election in our history.  We were victims of a multi-faceted attack on our election that included robbery, interference, ballot trafficking, electronic vote tampering, audit fraud, and voter role manipulation.  So what did Fani Willis do about that?  She covered it up; she kept two grand juries from knowing anything about that.”

Reports released today show that the Fulton Grand Jury originally attempted to indict even more Republicans than the 19 charged in mid-August. Typically, it is the district attorney who suggests a person to a grand jury. Only 19 of the 39 recommended were approved for indictment, but that original list included former Georgia U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. It illustrates what a broad brush Fulton Democrats were painting with, and underscores how the entire investigation has been a blatant attempt at political harassment from the beginning.

With the release of this news today that Fulton prosecution targets included Kelly Loeffler, one wonders if Governor Kemp would be more open to intervene and investigate Willis. A special legislative session can be called either by the governor or by a consensus of the legislators themselves.

Please continue to contact your legislators and urge them to support the call for a special legislative session. Newnan attorney Jared B. Craig encouraged the audience to get out the vote come election time, “but in the meantime, we need to support those people that are willing to stand up and do the noble work with courage and integrity as Senator Moore and the Freedom Caucus.”  Craig urged listeners, “We need to fund their campaigns and their efforts.” 

Sam Carnline from GeorgiansForTruth spoke about the need to return to hand-marked paper ballots.  Carnline then challenged the group to get out of their comfort zone.  Carnline said, “I want to challenge all of ya’ll, to challenge all of your friends,  that they need to get out there and make these representatives that we have uncomfortable.  Saturday was a couple of weeks ago, I made Secretary of State Raffensburger uncomfortable, and he ran from me!  Then I had the opportunity to speak to Governor Kemp and I made him so uncomfortable that he spoke the truth!”

Click here to watch the full video of the press conference.

We at the GRA appreciate our friends at Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) for leading the charge in the pro-life cause in our state for over 50 years! Last night we were pleased to once again support them at their annual REACH Benefit Dinner at the Cobb Galleria where GRA-endorsed State Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee) and State Rep. Emory Dunahoo (R-Hall) were honored for their pro-life legislative efforts. Protecting all innocent life from murder from the moment of conception to natural death is a moral principle we share, and look forward to being implemented in our state.

It was delightful to have Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols and Georgia Republican Party National Committeeman Jason Thompson attend the event.

Guest keynote speaker Alison Howard Centofante (derogatorily called the “pro-life Barbie”) is a mother of two who gave a compelling message, sharing touching personal stories and reports about shutting down abortion clinics engaged in medical malpractice. She discussed how families and ministries can provide safe places to young ladies who find themselves pregnant out of wedlock. She also addressed misconceptions surrounding the issue, stating that abortion (the intentional murder of a human being) is never necessary to “save the life of the mother.”

Doctors have two patients when dealing with pregnancy complications, and while it may become medically necessary to separate the preborn infant from the mother, that is not the same thing as intentionally murdering “by poisoning or dismembering the child,” Alison said.

Alison Howard Centofante delivers her keynote address at the GRTL outreach dinner.

In case you missed it, things got a bit tense at the 8th Congressional District GOP’s Fish Fry and State Committee meeting in Perry on August 26th. At the last minute, the host, 8th District GOP Chairman Chan Jones, decided to impose a dress code forbidding clothing displaying anything about election integrity. Jones has been an out-spoken opponent of election integrity efforts on the GA GOP State Committee. A few guests were told about the change on Friday, but most who drove several hours to the event from different corners of the state were unaware of the dress code until confronted inside the venue. Many who were wearing t-shirts from VoterGA or GeorgiansForTruth were told to remove their shirts or leave.

This effort to censure was done in violation of contract with these ticketholders. Nothing in the negotiations for the Fish Fry specified that ticketholders could not wear election-integrity themed shirts before they paid. Once the host took their money and issued them tickets without that restriction, he ceased to have the legal authority to exclude them under those conditions. They did not do anything disruptive. It is a shame that these Republican hosts would want to censure a message so near and dear to the Republican principles of the grassroots. Why would anyone be against election integrity?

There were several cellphone videos taken by attendees at the event, and a few captured highlights which have been shared widely online. One video is of a law enforcement officer—at the direction of the 8th District Chair—telling a group of attendees (including Grady County GOP Chairman Jeff Jolly and several GRA members), “All of you are criminally trespassing. If you don’t leave you’re going to be arrested,” because they were wearing voter integrity shirts. 

Another video shows Sam Carnline with Georgians For Truth politely asking Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about election integrity, and the S.o.S. nervously walked away mid-sentence without answering. 

Still another video shows Sam speaking with Governor Kemp, in which Kemp says, “If you give anybody a machine they can hack it.” 

After Governor Kemp left, several of our members reported that the the dress code was no longer enforced and a number of folks put back on their voter integrity shirts and wore them openly without any opposition for the remainder of time at the venue. 

Thankfully, no one was arrested or injured to our knowledge. But it was shameful that anyone was put in fear that they could be arrested. Despite that this has historically been a well-known Establishment event, true patriot conservatives were numerous in attendance and really had a warm reception by most of the others there. The GRA had a table at the event space, and many folks conversed with our members in an amiable manner, took brochures, and signed the petition to investigate Fani Willis. 

In spite of the ridiculous tactics to exclude folks from our side at the venue, it was a good day overall. It was encouraging to hear that people are waking up and our members are making a positive influence on the party. 🙂