JEKYLL ISLAND — Thousands of conservative activists will gather on the coast this weekend for the Georgia GOP Convention where attendees will lay out their approach for the 2022 statewide races — including what could be a hot governor’s race.
The main goal of the two-day convention will be to elect a party chairman — though David Shafer is expected to easily win support for a second term — and hear statewide and federal incumbents and candidates make the case for why Republican voters should select them in races next year.
Much will be said in support of Donald Trump, whose supporters have echoed the former president’s lies about widespread election fraud in Georgia. That means there also likely will be resolutions to censure or reprimand Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who have both been outspoken in their criticism of the former president. Neither is expected to attend the convention.
Day one of the convention kicked off at 2 p.m. Friday.
5:05: p.m.: Day one of the Georgia GOP State Convention has adjourned. Join us tomorrow as we bring updates from day two, where speakers are expected to include Gov. Brian Kemp and Vernon Jones, a Democrat-turned Republican who is challenging Kemp for governor next year.
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4:45 p.m.: This morning, some delegates attended closed meetings — including one on election integrity. Because the session was over capacity, topics from this morning’s meeting were shared with attendees in the main convention hall at the end of day one.
Speakers have spent the past nearly an hour questioning the 2020 elections and calling for a forensic audit. GOP Chairman David Shafer said doesn’t believe that Biden received more votes in Georgia than Barack Obama in 2008 or Hilary Clinton in 2016. More than 1 million more Georgians cast ballots in the 2020 presidential race versus those who voted in 2016.
3:15 p.m.: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr was the first Republican incumbent to draw boos from delegates attending the 2021 Georgia GOP State Convention. At least one woman stood and turned her back while he gave his remarks.
The pushback was scattered throughout his short speech, but most came as Carr said he would defend the state’s new elections law, Senate Bill 202.
Carr has mostly avoided backlash from supporters of Donald Trump, who say the state’s elected officials didn’t do enough to overturn the election is his favor.
3:00 p.m.: Fresh off the announcement that he plans to challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock next year, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black began to make his case for the support of his fellow Republicans.
“I doubt any of us will forget where we were on January 4, 2021,” Black said. “That evening a political wave crashed on the shores of Georgia. That wave is eroding our constitutional rights. ... We must say to this liberal wave — this far you may come and no more.”
2:40 p.m.: David Belle Isle, who lost the Republican primary runoff to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in 2018, told Republican delegates that he was not afraid of Stacey Abrams — the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is expected to challenge Kemp again this year.
Before his appearance, Belle Isle played a newly released digital ad where he implied Raffensperger colluded with Abrams to commit elections fraud last year. Belle Isle, the former mayor of Alpharetta, is one of at least three Republican candidates who’ve announced their intent to challenge Raffensperger in the primary next year.
Check out the video here.
2:20 p.m.: GOP Chairman David Shafer said he was glad to report that the convention is on pace to have the largest crowed in Georgia history, with many in attendance participating in their first state Republican convention.
“After the disappointment of the November elections ... my biggest fear would be that conservatives in this state would give up,” Shafer said.
2:00 p.m.: The 2021 Georgia Republican Party State Convention is underway, beginning with an invocation from Robert Jenkins of Muscogee County. He asked all in attendance to reflect on why they had gathered together and how they believe the future of Georgia should be shaped.
“We must, we must be careful about the people we select this weekend to lead this party,” Jenkins said. “We can no longer go on with people that cannot stand together and fight the evil that’s in this world today.”
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