Georgia Republican Party


The Georgia Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party.

Current structure

David Shafer is the current state chairman. Stewart Bragg is the executive director. Jason Thompson serves as Republican National Committeeman representing Georgia. Thompson was elected in 2018 to fill the term of Randy Evans, who was appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Donald Trump. Ginger Howard was elected at the 2016 State Convention as the current RNC Committeewoman. Republicans hold every statewide, elected constitutional office in Georgia, as well as majorities in both the State House and the State Senate. Both United States Senators from Georgia, Johnny Isakson and David Perdue are Republicans, and Republicans hold nine out of 14 of Georgia's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Republican National Committee handles the national party day-to-day operations. Campaigns, events, and other party related activities are handled by the RNC. Ronna McDaniel is the current chairman of RNC. The chairman of the RNC is chosen by the president when the Republicans have the White House or otherwise by the party's state committees. There has never been a chairman from Georgia. The RNC, under the direction of the party's presidential candidate, supervises the Republican National Convention, raises funds, and coordinates campaign strategy. On the local level there are similar state committees in every state and most large cities, counties and legislative districts, but they have far less money and influence than the national body.

History

Reconstruction and Jim Crow

After the American Civil War, Georgia was initially placed under a military governorship, but in 1868 the Republican Party succeeded in capturing the legislature and electing Rufus Bullock as governor. Support for the Republicans came from the 44% of the state's population that was African American, along with whites from the mountainous north. Bullock was the first Republican governor of Georgia, but he was threatened with impeachment and fled the state in 1871, leaving the governorship to Benjamin Conley, the president of the Georgia Senate. Conley, the second Republican governor of the state, only lasted 72 days: the legislature quickly called a special election, and Conley was succeeded by a Democrat, James Milton Smith, resulting in the end of Reconstruction in Georgia.
After 1882, the Republican Party did not offer a full slate of candidates in Georgia, cementing Democratic one-party rule in the state. By the turn of the 20th century, the party had developed a reputation among white Georgians as a "Negro party" led by corrupt whites and plagued by local infighting. Black Georgians who could register to vote tended to vote for Republicans, who remained a minority in the General Assembly throughout the Jim Crow era. After the resignation of W. H. Rogers of McIntosh County in 1907 and the full defranchisement of African-Americans was completed in 1908, only white legislators could be elected by black voters.
Republicans were absent from the State House from 1899-1902, 1909-1910, and 1931-1934, and from the State Senate from 1879-1880, 1883-1886, 1891-1894, 1905-1910, 1917-1920, 1923-1924, 1929-1930 and 1951-1952, with many of these periods resulting in no opposition of any kind to Democratic legislators. Most Republican representation in the General Assembly from the end of Reconstruction to the beginning of the Civil Rights era came from Fannin and surrounding Northeastern counties in the Appalachian region, largely owing to the history of anti-Confederate sentiment in the Appalachian region dating from the Civil War.
The Republican Party in Georgia, lacking electoral representation, was further weakened by internal rifts between party activists, with African-American party activists being criticized by White Republican activists for doling out political patronage for federal office jobs and for "dominating" the party leadership. Party leaders By the late 1920 and into the 1930s, White party activists under the leadership made an effort to clean up corruption, but also sought to suppress African-American party leadership. African-American members were removed from the state central committee as well as from the Georgia delegation to the Republican National Committee, and African-American party activists complained to the RNC leadership about the growing racism of party leadership. In 1936, a compromise was made in which African-Americans would be reserved one-third membership on the state committee, but would not be allowed to higher office nor control over patronage, a mandate which would hold over the next few decades.
A further split would occur along similar lines in 1944, when the Georgia delegation to the Republican National Convention split into two factions, one led by outgoing state chair Clint Hager and the other rallying around Committeeman Walter H. Johnson. The former group elected Roy G. Foster as their chair while the latter group elected W. Roscoe Tucker, but the latter faction had more success being recognized by the national convention as representing the Georgia party, and would emerge as the prevailing faction by 1952, when the Tucker faction was seated by the national convention over Foster's pro-Taft stance, and Foster folded his faction into the Tucker faction.

Split and resurgence (1952-1990)

In addition, the 1952 election was the first time that Georgia figured so highly in both the primary and general presidential election for the Republican Party, with Georgia emerging as a key state to help Eisenhower win the nomination and then giving Eisenhower 30% of the popular vote. Much of these gains were due to the efforts of state chair Elbert Tuttle and activist Kil Townsend, who organized a groundswell of support for Eisenhower within Atlanta's growing urban middle and upper class. Townsend had previously organized support for Tom Dewey's campaign in 1948, and Dewey's loss to Harry Truman halted further activity by Townsend until 1950, Eisenhower then appointed state chair Elbert Tuttle as a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which would then prove crucial for future Republican gains.
While the King v. Chapman ended the white Democratic primary system in Georgia in 1946, ending a practice which locked out anti-Democrat opposition for decades, the Supreme Court decision in Baker v. Carr was instrumental in opening up the electoral system for the Republican Party in Georgia. Tuttle, as a federal judge, would chair the panel which decided in which courts the multiple subsequent suits against the county unit system were tried, and then directed the legislature’s reapportionment to give urban and suburban citizens, including African-American and many white immigrant Republican voters, a shot at fairer representation. Besides the election of the first African-American members to the General Assembly since 1910 as well as the election of Carl Sanders as the first urban Democrat to the governorship since 1917, Tuttle's destruction of the county unit system also led to an immediate increase in the number of Republican members in the General Assembly, the election of the first minority leaders in both houses, as well as the 1964 election of Bo Callaway as the first Republican member of Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction. Republican presence in the General Assembly would go from a single Republican, William Kiker of Fannin County, in the Georgia Senate and 3 Republicans in the House by 1960 to 7 Senate and 26 House Republicans in 1970.
In 1966 Callaway ran for, and received the plurality of votes for, governor but failed to win, when the election was decided by the Democratic Party-controlled Georgia legislature in favor of Democrat Lester Maddox. In the 1970s, amid the Watergate Scandal, the rise of Democratic President Jimmy Carter from Georgia, led to the self-proclaimed "dark days" for the Republican Party that led to a decade of failed elections and tough incidents. Georgia Republicans struggled through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to become a major party, occasionally winning victories such as the election of Newt Gingrich, a young Republican activist since the 1960s, in 1979. Also U.S. Senator Mack Mattingly was elected after, in 1980, only to see those gains erased in subsequent elections.

Rise to prominence

The Party's fortunes finally began to turn in the 1990s. During the decade, Republicans gained a majority in the congressional delegation after a redistricting plan adopted by the General Assembly Democrats backfired. Also, Georgia played a pivotal role in national affairs, as Congressman Newt Gingrich propelled to the top, becoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2002 Sonny Perdue was elected as the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. He served as governor from 2003-2011 for two terms. Republicans gained control of both chambers the state legislature in 2002 and 2004.

News

On September 28, 2011, it was revealed that Georgia intends to move their Republican Primary to Super Tuesday by December 1. The party feels that it should play a bigger role due to its size and number of delegates, and is moving forward with the notion that it can have an important say in this next election. Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart said that having an early primary would make Georgia a bigger player in 2012. She added that she did not want to see the state lose delegates by going before March. "Since we became a red state, they haven't paid much attention to us," Everhart said, referring to GOP candidates and the RNC. "They use us as a donor state."

Symbols and name

The mascot of the Georgia Republican Party is the elephant. The elephant was originally constructed by artist Thomas Nast, in response to the criticism of a possible third term by President Ulysses S. Grant.
The cartoon's image was taken from one of Aesop's fables, "The Ass in the Lion's Skin." It follows up with, "At last coming upon a fox, he tried to frighten him also, but the fox no sooner heard the sound of his voice than he exclaimed, 'I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not hear your bray.'"
"The moral of the fable is that although a fool may disguise his appearance, his words will reveal his true nature. To Nast, the New York Herald is not a roaring lion to be feared, but a braying ass to be ridiculed. The reference in the citation to "Shakespeare or Bacon" is a jibe at Bennett's contention that Shakespeare's works were actually written by Sir Francis Bacon."
In modern day, the symbol of the elephant is seen as a regular commodity, showing up on campaign merchandise and other party materials. Ordinary people would most likely not understand the rise of the elephant, or its history, but understand the symbolic nature of the beast in today's political climate.
The elephant for the GOP rivals the Democrats' donkey.

Current Republican officeholders

The Republican Party of Georgia controls both U.S. Senate seats and 9 of the 14 U.S. House seats. Republicans also control all 13 of the 13 state constitutional offices.
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In 2002 Sonny Perdue was elected as the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. He earned a doctorate from University of Georgia in 1971 in veterinary medicine. He served in the US Air Force, earning the rank of captain, before receiving his honorable discharge and starting up a small business in Raleigh, N.C. He served 10 years beginning in 1990 as a Democrat in the Georgia State Senate, including a tenure as majority leader in 1995-1996. He served as governor from 2003-2011 for two terms.

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