The state GOP convention in Columbus this weekend was both a grassroots business meeting and the start of the 2024 U.S. presidential contest in Georgia. It was also a reminder of the party’s fissures, since Gov. Brian Kemp and other statewide Republicans skipped the scene entirely.
The group elected a new chairman in Josh McKoon. But one of the biggest pieces of business didn’t get finished — ratifying the state party’s platform, which outlines a range of conservative positions on some of the state’s most contentious issues.
There weren’t enough delegates remaining late Saturday afternoon to reach quorum, so their vote in support of the document is moot for now. But a Georgia GOP committee is expected to sign off on the platform soon.
The six-page document calls on state lawmakers to abolish abortion completely, create a COVID-19 commission to review the state’s vaccine protocol and phase out Georgia’s state income tax.
It also opposes attempts to remove or replace Confederate monuments and memorials or “deface or destroy” the engraving of Rebel leaders on Stone Mountain, the nation’s largest state-owned monument to the Confederate war dead.
And it backs school vouchers “to create competition among the schools and methods of education,” a pointed message to legislators months after a push to expand the program failed earlier this year.
There’s also a lengthy section involving election law, which includes a demand for paper ballots and a call for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to withdraw from the multistate voting registration system known as ERIC, which Raffensperger has said is essential to keeping up-to-date voter rolls.
As Georgia legislators debate legislation to combat hate crimes against Jewish people, the platform says Republicans officials should use the definition by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance to define antisemitism.
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Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
LISTEN UP. Your Insiders were on the ground in Columbus to talk to delegates, staffers, presidential hopefuls, and more. Hear all about it in our special Sunday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, taped on site at the Historic Iron Works.
Listen at Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
FAR-RIGHT FALLOUT. The hard-line Georgia Republican Assembly entered the GOP convention Friday hoping to both win control of key party posts and create a purity test for future Republican candidates in Georgia elections.
Instead, the so-called “accountability rule” was shelved after a coalition of mainstream Republicans and grassroots conservatives sided against it.
And most of the group’s favored candidates lost their races. Marci McCarthy, Brant Frost V, Vikki Consiglio and Alton Russell were each defeated in their races for leadership posts. (The group did endorse Josh McKoon, who won the GOP chair vote.)
But this was no victory for the moderates. Ultraconservatives still won many top party posts, including several who amplify Donald Trump’s election fraud lies.
Writing in Peach Pundit, former Cobb GOP chair Jason Shepherd sums it up:
“Rather than the GRA throwing out the ‘Establishment’ wing of the GAGOP, the delegates in several key races not only threw out the ‘Establishment,’ but also the GRA’s picks.”
Credit: Screenshot
Credit: Screenshot
One of those victors is Brian K. Pritchard, the north Georgia talk show host who narrowly defeated McCarthy for first vice chair of the party. In the hours after he won, some activists buzzed about his history.
As our AJC colleague Mark Niesse recently reported, Pritchard was accused by the state Attorney General’s office of voting illegally nine times while serving a felony sentence in a forgery and theft case. He denied wrongdoing.
Shepherd called for him to immediately resign, writing: “You can’t be the Party of ‘Voter Integrity’ and then have a second-in-command who is unrepentant about the voter fraud he may have committed himself.”
Pritchard told us he is focused on turning the page.
“I can’t remember the last time the party was this unified with one goal: Defeat Biden in 2024. All Republicans know Biden must go.”
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Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
ALL THE REST. The two-day Columbus convention made plenty of news, start to finish. Here’s what else happened while you were enjoying your weekend:
- Former President Donald Trump used his 90 minute speech to attack the looming criminal cases against him. “Witch hunt, witch hunt. Scam. Hoax,” he said.
- Trump also vowed to end federal incentives for EV cars, which have been key to Georgia’s latest EV car boom.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
- Arizona firebrand Kari Lake issued this stark warning to federal prosecutors and the media, “If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And most of us are card carrying members of the NRA.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
- Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson got a standing ovation from delegates after this policy-focused speech, when he never mentioned Trump. But he told reporters later Trump should drop out of the race and said the facts so far show the former president treated secret documents “like entertainment tools.”
- Also, Asa Hutchinson’s wife was born at Atlanta’s Crawford Long Hospital, which is now Emory Midtown. Who knew?
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
- Vivek Ramaswamy broke out as a favorite among some delegates. His speech included his plans to raise the voting age to 25.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
HOUSE RESET. Members of the U.S. House return to Washington this evening after being sent home early last week when far-right lawmakers ground work to a standstill.
Today, the Rules Committee will discuss an updated package of legislation that includes the same bills that stalled out last week, plus U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde’s legislation to bar the government from regulating pistol braces.
Members revolted against Speaker Kevin McCarthy in part because Clyde said leadership had threatened not to move his bill if he didn’t back McCarthy on the debt limit legislation. Clyde said it was punishment for his defiance, while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Clyde’s bill just didn’t have the votes, even among Republicans, to pass.
After closed-doors meetings between Clyde and House leaders last week, the congressman said he had received assurances his gun legislation would reach the floor this week.
Look for the revised rule legislation, with Clyde’s bill included, to come to the floor Tuesday for a vote, the first test of whether these divisions within the House Republican caucus persist.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
AIRSPACE BATTLE. Members of Congress from Georgia are getting involved in the fight over allowing more long-haul flights into Washington Reagan National Airport, with big implications for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.
The AJC’s Kelly Yamanouchi writes that Delta wants to change long-standing distance rules that limit flights to western states and other long haul destinations. The perimeter was originally put in place to limit competition with Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
United Airlines, which operates a hub at Dulles, is opposing Delta’s efforts to expand or eliminate the perimeter. So are the airport authority and D.C.-area elected officials, and the Virginia and Maryland Congressional delegations, who warn the move would increase delays there by 33%.
But any change would require congressional approval, so that is where Delta has turned. Kelly writes that U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, has introduced legislation to allow airlines to add 56 flights a day at National — a 13% increase — without any limits on distance.
“By limiting the number of flights in and out of National Airport, we are squeezing consumers — they are the ones paying the price,” Johnson said in a statement.
The perimeter bill has more than 30 bipartisan cosponsors, including Georgia’s U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath, Sanford Bishop, Drew Ferguson and Buddy Carter. Johnson’s partner on the bill is Republican U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah, where Delta also has a hub.
The bill is likely to become one of the proposals lawmakers attempt to insert into the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which must be approved every five years. A first draft was published on Friday.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will host College Athlete Day with national championship men’s and women’s teams — but without University of Georgia’s football team. He’ll also meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
- The U.S. House and Senate both have evening votes scheduled.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. It’s time to meet Widget Cowan, a Dunwoody-based beagle who calls Jolt subscriber Michael Cowan his person.
A reliable source reports Widget is totally fed up with the state of politics today, and who can blame her? Talk of politics puts her to sleep, as seen here, and she barks equally at all sides. We feel you, Widget, we feel you.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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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.
