Category: conventions

Canton, GA — Three GRA local chapters joined together last Saturday for a combined Regional Metro Endorsement Convention. The Cobb RA chapter, the North Metro RA Chapter (which includes Cherokee & Pickens counties), 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.

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

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

GA State House

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

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

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

• Phoebe Eckhardt, HD 47, (Milton area, North Fulton).

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

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

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

Judicial

• Trey Goodwin, Cherokee Chief Magistrate

GA State Senate

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

U.S Congress

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

Marietta, GA — At Roswell Street Baptist Church last Saturday, the Cobb County Republican Party held their county convention to elect delegates to the congressional district and state conventions, to adopt rules, and to pass resolutions. Most of the convention went fairly smoothly with only minor changes made to the delegate lists proposed by the Nominating Committee, primarily due to some delegates dropping out because of scheduling conflicts.

However, the convention once again ran into a reoccurring problem for the Cobb GOP with being able to pass resolutions due to the ridiculous red tape Parliamentarian Donna Rowe has put in the Cobb GOP Rules, creating an arduous process to get resolutions submitted and approved. This was done in reaction to the backlash the Cobb GOP received a few years ago when a resolution was overwhelmingly passed by the county committee criticizing Governor Brian Kemp. This time the procedures made it so that a resolution favored by Cobb GOP Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs could not be voted on by the body.

The resolution would have called for Board of Elections member and lobbyist Ed Lindsey to have been removed from the board and replaced with a grassroots champion for election integrity. Although the Cobb GOP’s procedural rules did not allow for the delegates to consider that resolution, other county GOP conventions did pass resolutions on that subject. Marci McCarthy, Chairwoman of the DeKalb GOP, for example, reported that her county’s convention passed the resolution. As the Over 80K Chair for the GA GOP, Salleigh Grubbs was said to be encouraging other county GOPs with over 80,000 populations to pass the resolution she could not pass in her own county.

The Cobb GOP did, however, manage to pass two strong resolutions at the county convention, which were presented by Cobb RA member Leroy Emkin, who serves as the Chairman of the Resolutions Committee. The first of these denounced the use of “Diversity Equity & Inclusion” (DEI) policies, which are tied to theories of Marxist “social justice,” in the Georgia university system. The second called for election integrity reform. You can see these two proposed resolutions here:

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a county convention of the Cobb County Republican Assembly. The gathering will involve a business meeting for members-only, followed by breaking bread together over some light refreshments, dessert, coffee, and punch. Then at 7pm we will be hosting a panel of the leadership from the Georgia Freedom Caucus to share a report on what happened (from a truly conservative constitutionalist perspective) behind the scenes at the last legislative session and to tell us what to expect in next year’s 2024 legislative session. We’ve been planning to host them since the previous session ended. But we didn’t expect the Freedom Caucus to gain so much notoriety as they have lately from the controversy regarding Fulton D.A. Fani Willis. So this will be an opportunity for you to hear from them on all of these subjects — and to ask them your questions!

All of the funds raised will go to help our chapter with upcoming outreach efforts during the Republican primary and to reimburse the church for the use of their facility.

Remember that anyone is welcome to register to attend the guest panel with the Georgia Freedom Caucus, but only members may vote in the business portion of the convention. Feel free to invite your friends from Paulding, Douglas, Bartow, and other counties in the surrounding area who would like to hear from the leaders at the Georgia Freedom Caucus.

In conclusion, here are the important details on this local RA chapter event:

Cobb County Republican Assembly Convention:
Georgia Freedom Caucus Live Panel with Q&A
Location: Temple Baptist Church of West Cobb
Address: 5415 Macland Road SW, Powder Springs, GA 30127
Cost: $20 early-bird \ $25 late registration
Refreshments, dessert & drinks included
Business: 6:00pm. Panel: 7:00pm

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE COBB RA COUNTY CONVENTION.

The Cobb County GOP sends close to the largest delegation to the state convention most years. It also sends delegations to four congressional districts conventions now.

In the past, elected officials have usually been placed at the front of the line to serve as delegates, even though many of these elected officials stand on the sidelines and don’t participate in controversial votes at the conventions, so as not to upset their constituents. Their delegate votes thus are often wasted.

This year the Nominating Committee for Cobb County adopted a new policy: “We chose to prioritize and give preference to our hard-working grassroots volunteers in the county who have labored to help the organization, the cause, and candidate campaigns completely at their own expense—without expecting any financial reward— over elected officials,” said Cobb Nominating Committee Chairman Nathaniel Darnell. Nathaniel also serves as the Chairman for the Cobb County RA chapter. Chris Deeb, the President of the Cobb RA chapter, served as Vice Chairman of the Nominating Committee. Nine other conservatives, activists, and former candidates from the county also served on the committee.

“This was not to disrespect any Republican elected official in Cobb County, but rather to honor the many men and women upon whose shoulders they stand: our grassroots volunteers,” Nathaniel continued. As a result, all Cobb County elected officials were placed on the alternate list by default during early Nominating Committee deliberations. By the conclusion, the committee voted to remove only one Cobb Republican elected official from both the delegate and alternate lists due to bad behavior in the state legislature.

This policy represents a shift in thinking within the Georgia Republican Party: Instead of the grassroots being treated as being at the bottom of the totem pole with the elite elected officials, corporate lobbyists, and paid political industry riding on their backs, true self-sacrificing Patriots were given the foremost respect.

These are people with nothing to gain from their activism (other than just working to make the world a better place). We suggest that this group is more likely to be objective about what is best for the party, since they aren’t thinking about how to climb the ladder or make money in the political industry. 

While some paid members of the political industry, such as Brittany Ellison from east Cobb (who has also publicly posted false and vulgar attacks about fellow Republicans on her social media), took to the microphone to complain about being nominated as merely an alternate behind grassroots volunteers, no one at the Cobb County GOP Convention complained about the elected officials taking a back seat. No one made a motion to move up an elected official in Cobb from an alternate to a delegate position. The Nominating Committee’s policy concerning elected officials was therefore approved by the body at the county convention.

Those who sacrificially give of their “three Ts” (their time, their treasure, and their talents) expecting no personal enrichment, should always be given such preference. They are the heart and soul of the Republican Party.