David Shafer has had a rocky tenure since taking the reins as chair of the Georgia GOP in 2019.
He presided over devastating losses in the 2020 election cycle that cost Republicans control of the U.S. Senate and helped tank Donald Trump’s bid for a second term as president, then scapegoated Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for the defeats.
He was a key promoter of Trump’s election fraud lies and his role as a “fake” elector has potentially put him in the crosshairs of state and federal investigators weighing whether to file criminal charges against the former president and his allies for seeking to overturn the election.
He has alienated many of the state’s most powerful Republicans for picking the pro-Trump losing side in party primaries. Among them is Gov. Brian Kemp, arguably the state’s most popular Republican, who has used his own newly formed committee to circumvent Shafer.
As Shafer prepares to potentially stand for another term at the party’s June convention in Columbus, there are growing factions within the party who want to see him ousted.
One possible contender for the job is Rebecca Yardley, the well-respected chair of the 9th GOP District, a section of northeast Georgia representing the state’s most important Republican stronghold. Yardley hasn’t said whether she’ll run yet, but she’s told friends she’ll make her announcement in the new year.
(Another potential candidate, DeKalb GOP chair Marci McCarthy, told us she’s running for first vice-chair instead.)
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Jay Morgan, the former executive director of the state GOP, called Shafer a “part of the Trump tribe” whose blind loyalty to the former president has contributed to stinging defeats the past two campaigns.
“The governor’s team carried the entire ticket to solid wins while David Shafer and the moneychangers in the temple worked against incumbents in the primary,” said Morgan, now a lobbyist.
Georgia GOP executive director Ryan Caudelle — a former Trump staffer — said Shafer’s leadership enabled “record-breaking” voter outreach this election cycle, with more than 5.2 million doors knocked and 2.5 million calls made.
“The Georgia Republican Party’s efforts translated into winning every nonfederal statewide office, reelecting our legislative majorities and picking up a seat in Congress. And we did it without going into debt.”
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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
DEMOCRATIC CHAIR. Across the aisle, there appears to be far less drama around U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams’ campaign for another term as head of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
No credible opponent has emerged ahead of the party’s Jan. 7 vote in Atlanta. First elected in 2019, Williams expects to roll out endorsements from a range of activists, elected officials and statewide candidates from across the state within days.
And several party figures who were buzzed about as potential challengers have decided against a run. DeKalb Commissioner Ted Terry, the party’s first vice-chair, said last week he wouldn’t seek any party office to “give other leaders from the grassroots” a chance to serve.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Terry endorsed the Rev. James “Major” Woodall, the former president of the Georgia NAACP and a well-known civil rights activist, to succeed him as the party’s No. 2. Two other contenders for the first vice-chair job have since emerged.
Public relations executive Dontaye Carter, a former TV reporter who ran for Sandy Springs mayor in 2021, announced a bid Tuesday with a pledge to further the party’s appeal with rural Georgians and young voters.
And state Sen. Sheikh Rahman, a longtime party official who was the first Muslim elected to the Georgia Legislature, filed paperwork Tuesday to run for the job.
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LISTEN UP. Your Politically Georgia podcast crew is out with an episode on the biggest questions that shaped state politics in 2022. Join us!
Listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
HYPE HOUSE. Your Insiders have been inundated with questions about the hardly-used “hype house” that has become a sign of the profligate spending by the Stacey Abrams campaign.
We’re told by three former staffers that the five-bedroom house, which was intended for TikTok videos but wound up mostly neglected by the campaign, sits near the entrance of Piedmont Park.
Among the amenities: An owner’s suite with vaulted ceilings and a custom walk-in closet, accordion doors that open to a covered rear porch overlooking the park and a finished basement with a workout room.
It was recently listed at $12,500 a month to rent.
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SPECIAL ELECTION. An Augusta-area state House district is staying in the family after a Tuesday vote.
After Democratic state Rep. Wayne Howard died in October at the age of 67, his older brother Karlton Howard won the special election for his brother’s seat. Read more about the vote in the Augusta Chronicle.
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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
TRUMP TAXES. The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines to release six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
This caps off years of wrangling by House Democrats to access records that show how much Trump truly is worth.
He defied tradition and refused to voluntarily release his taxes as a candidate for president and upon taking office.
Still, details of his personal finances trickled out in reports in The New York Times and used to pursue litigation involving the president.
Republicans said that the vote amounts to an invasion of privacy and abuse of power. U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., is the only member of the state’s delegation on the powerful tax-writing committee. He criticized the release of Trump’s taxes in a post on Twitter after the meeting.
“Today’s precedent setting actions by Dem @WaysMeansCmte to release a private citizen’s tax return destroys the privacy of millions of Americans & should terrify every taxpayer,” he wrote. “Dem’s Political Enemies list is back.”
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Credit: Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times
Credit: Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make his first known foreign trip since Russia’s invasion in February, beginning with a visit to the White House and joint news conference with President Joe Biden.
- In the evening, Zelenskyy will appear at a joint session of Congress.
- Meanwhile, the package of bills to fund the federal government is waiting for action in the U.S. Senate.
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STAMP OF APPROVAL. We are learning more about the behind-the-scenes efforts that led to last week’s announcement that a stamp honoring John Lewis will soon debut.
Although U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff was among the elected officials pushing the stamp, the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation also quietly worked with the U.S. Postal Service.
Shortly after the civil rights icon’s death in July 2020, people close to Lewis started looking into the stamp approval process and learned the Postal Service won’t grant requests until at least three years after an individual’s death.
Other members of Georgia’s delegation got involved, including U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, the state’s longest-serving lawmaker. Lewis’ fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, also waged a letter-writing campaign.
The result was last week’s announcement. Linda Earley Chastang, who serves as the Lewis Foundation president and CEO, said the stamp will remind people of Lewis’ work for voting rights.
“So, having it on the stamp honors not only Congressman Lewis and the movement that he led, but it also encourages voter participation, civic engagement and in general getting into ‘good trouble,’” she said.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
SUPER SUPERINTENDENT. Douglas County schools superintendent Trent North is one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year.
North will find out if he won the title in February during a national meeting of superintendents to be held in Texas. It was just earlier this month when he was named Georgia’s 2023 Superintendent of the Year, the AJC’s Maureen Downey writes.
North has been superintendent in Douglas County since 2017 and before that served in Carrollton City Schools for 26 years.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
