One of the more embarrassing moments  for the Georgia GOP came in 2012. Two years earlier, Chairman Sue Everhart had persuaded Ashley Bell, an African-American, a Democrat, and Hall County commissioner, to switch sides and become a Republican.

Bell was summarily defeated in the next GOP primary.

Four years later, Bell might be ready to say that his sense of justice has been restored. A White House pool report that just moved names the Donald Trump administration teams that are coordinating the presidential transition in various federal departments. It includes this line:

State Team: Former ambassador Charlie Glazier, Alex Gray, Jackie Walcott, Ashley Bell, Chris Burnham.

That's U.S. State Department, to be clear. Bell had joined the Republican National Committee effort this summer to turn out minorities for Trump.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

Credit: NYT