A not-quite united Georgia Republican Party rallies behind Trump

COLUMBUS, Georgia — Speakers at the Georgia state GOP convention all agreed that they’re ready to send former President Donald Trump back to the White House.

They did not always agree on everything else.

Thousands of delegates packed into the Columbus Ironworks for speeches and fanfare Friday and Saturday, cheering for speakers including former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Georgia Lt. Gov Burt Jones, and firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as they hope to get the Peach State back into the red column.

But according to some attendees, the delegates themselves broke down into two groups with different visions for the GOP.

“This is a battle between the establishment and the grassroots patriots,” said James Abely, a delegate from Glenn County, near Savannah. “My argument is: You cannot simultaneously back Gov. [Brian] Kemp (R-GA) and Donald Trump. Because they hate each other.”

Kemp was absent from the proceedings, though Trump was also missing after he made an appearance at the 2023 edition. After battling for much of 2021 and 2022, the two have formed an uneasy truce to try to turn Georgia red again this fall, but there are cracks in the alliance.

Kemp’s wife, Marty, said last month that she would write in her husband’s name on her ballot, while former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who appeared on the same winning ticket with Kemp in 2018, is backing President Joe Biden.

“This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass,” Duncan wrote.

If Duncan has a constituency within the GOP in Georgia, it was not found on the convention floor in Columbus.

“I certainly feel like everybody is united behind Trump,” Georgia state GOP Chairman Josh McKoon told the Washington Examiner ahead of the proceedings. “We have a united crowd around electing him.”

The convention theme was “Victory in Unity,” and speakers repeatedly referenced the need to unify and expand the tent to beat Biden.

“America’s allies are hurting, and our president and our Democratic senators aren’t standing with them,” Loeffler said during a session largely focused on reaching black voters. “Yet every blue-haired they/them on campus who gets thrown in jail is immediately bailed out, while our Jan. 6 protesters are locked up year after year after year. This is the two-tiered system of justice.”

Yet as the convention unfolded, Biden was just 100 miles away in Atlanta, meeting with groups of black voters before a graduation speech at the all-black, all-male Morehouse College on Sunday morning.

“Georgia is the reason I’m president of the United States,” Biden said during an Atlanta campaign reception Saturday afternoon. “You’re the reason we were able to defeat the former president, and you’re the reason we’re going to beat him again.”

In Columbus, the election of delegates and chairperson to the Republican National Convention featured several contested elections, with self-described grassroots figures looking to oust delegates chosen by the nominations committee.

One member of the initial slate of national delegates, John Garst, pulled out “in the interest of party unity” after he was challenged on the floor by someone who described him as “the former Dominion Voting Systems lobbyist John Garst.”

In a similar vein, there were resolutions criticizing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was reelected less than two years ago, over voting integrity, in addition to a spirited debate over whether to use electronic or paper ballots to elect the convention delegates. Electronic voting emerged as the winner.

Many members of the original slate of nominees survived their challenges, including Committeeman Jason Thompson, who beat two challenges. But Committeewoman Ginger Howard lost her reelection bid in the day’s last election to Amy Kremer, who made much in her nominating speech of being a grassroots candidate.

“Why is it the grassroots that’s doing all the work while everybody else is at the cocktail parties?” Kremer asked. “If you want the representation to be for the grassroots and for the grassroots to have a choice, then you need to vote for change.”

In the end, change did come, as Kremer narrowly defeated Howard on the final ballot. Whether that success translates into a win for Trump this fall or leads to a continuation of Georgia’s recent purple trend remains to be seen.

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Greene referenced some of the divisions, both in Georgia and in Washington, during her breakfast session speech Saturday morning, saying they can be a force for good.

“I might be known for fighting with Republicans every now and then, and that’s what the state GOP convention is about, right?” she said. “Everybody’s going to kind of brawl it out on the issues that we’re fighting for here in our state. Unfortunately, it has to happen. But I’ve got to tell you guys: Iron sharpens iron. There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of arguing in the Republican Party. Because we need to make the Republican Party the America First party.”