Georgia will send 59 delegates and 56 alternate delegates to the Republican National Convention to formally nominate former President Donald Trump in his comeback bid against President Joe Biden.
The four-day convention will take on a more somber tone after an assassination attempt left a suspected shooter and a spectator dead at Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in rural Pennsylvania.
Before the rally, Georgia delegates were expecting a triumphant party celebrating the former president, who has staked a solid single-digit lead over Biden in Georgia. And though Georgia dealt Trump devastating political and legal setbacks, he dominated the state’s March primary.
Still, Trump has work ahead to shore up the base. Gov. Brian Kemp, who has a long and contentious history with Trump, has vowed to back him in November. But he revealed last month that he cast a blank ballot in the primary rather than vote for his onetime nemesis.
Below is a list of Georgia delegates and some alternates headed to the convention. We’ll add more details as we gather them.
Josh McKoon, a former state senator and onetime candidate for secretary of state who now chairs the Georgia GOP
Mark Amick, a GOP activist who was one of the Republican electors who tried to cast Georgia’s electoral votes for Trump in 2020
Dave Baker, former Public Service Commission member
Brittany Bennett, an 8th District GOP leader
Carl Blackburn, the 9th District GOP chair and a 2024 GOP elector
Jessie Blankenship, a conservative activist
Ric Bravo, a Columbia County activist who was an alternate to the 2016 convention
Brittany Brown, the Chatham County GOP chair
Denise Burns, the 14th District GOP chair
Nancy Burton, a Walker County GOP activist
Credit: Nell Carroll for the Journal Constitution
Credit: Nell Carroll for the Journal Constitution
Brad Carver, an attorney and longtime Republican operative who was a 2020 elector who tried to cast Georgia’s electoral votes for Trump and now chairs the 6th GOP District
Mike Cheokas, a state legislator who represents an Americus-based district
Marlis Fewell, the Decatur County GOP chair
William Freeman, a DeKalb County Republican running for a Georgia House seat
Brant Frost V, a former Georgia GOP first vice chair who is now first vice president of the Georgia Republican Assembly
Dennis Futch, a Moultrie accountant who chairs the Colquitt County GOP
Pat Gartland, a longtime Republican activist
Debra Giddens, the Ware County GOP chair
Salleigh Grubbs, the Cobb County GOP chair
Douglas Hartman, a DeKalb County GOP leader
Joanna Hildreth, the Catoosa County GOP chair
Bob Hinton, the 13th District GOP chair
Joannah Hollis, a Republican activist
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Ginger Howard, a longtime activist who has served several terms as a Republican National Committee member before she was defeated earlier this year by a far-right opponent
Kathy Hurley, the Oconee County GOP chair
Caroline Jeffords, an activist who was recently elected as the Georgia GOP’s secretary
Alex Johnson, the leader of the Georgia Republican Assembly, he ran several unsuccessful campaigns to head the Georgia GOP.
Trey Kelly, former Fulton County GOP chair
Betsy Kramer, an activist and former Georgia House candidate for a Johns Creek-based district
Ronald Kurtz, a Republican activist
Allison Largeman, a Lee County GOP leader
Bruce LeVell, a Trump adviser and former Gwinnett County GOP chair who ran for the U.S. House in 2017
Pam Lightsey, the president of Georgia’s chapter of the National Federation of Republican Women
Rey Martinez, a state legislator and former mayor of Loganville
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Marci McCarthy, the DeKalb County GOP chair who has a growing profile as a political pundit on both mainstream and conservative outlets
Michael McLendon, a Republican activist
Mansell McCord, the former treasurer of the Georgia GOP
Rufus Montgomery, a former U.S. Army combat engineer who is a Gold Dome lobbyist
Denise Ognio, an activist who served as a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention
Brandon Phillips, a veteran political operative who is now the top aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Collins
Alec Poitevint, a business executive and longtime GOP official who has attended every Republican convention since 1976
Dianne Putnam, former chair of the Whitfield County GOP
Orien Roy, a Georgia field representative for Turning Point Action
Franklin Rozier, a Blackshear attorney who ran unsuccessfully for a state House seat in 2018
Alton Russell, a Columbus activist who is the past chair of the Third District GOP and a professional storyteller
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
David Shafer, the former Georgia GOP chair who has pleaded not guilty in Fulton County to election-interference charges
Kathy Statham, a Republican activist
Bruce Thompson, a former state senator elected in 2022 as state labor commissioner
Jason Thompson, a veteran organizer and activist who was reelected earlier this year to another term on the RNC
Julianne Thompson, a longtime Republican activist who gained prominence leading the state’s tea party movement
Kathleen Thorman, a former Gordon County GOP chair
Rick Tillman, an optometrist and longtime chair of the Carroll County GOP
Jim Tully, the Paulding County GOP chair
J. Scott Vandiver, a candidate for a Gwinnett County-based Georgia House seat
Paul Voorhees, a Republican activist
Suzi Voyles, a former candidate for the U.S. House in 2022
Donna Watson, the former 6th District GOP chair
Cooper Whitmire, a staffer for the Georgia chapter of Talking Points Action and chair of the Hall County Young Republicans
Seanie Zappendorf, the former Dawson County GOP chair and a Georgia GOP state committee member
Among the 56 alternates, there are also notable state Republican figures. Here are a few:
Brandon Beach, a state senator and Trump ally who was demoted by then-Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan after backing legislative attempts to overturn the 2020 vote. He supported former U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s failed campaign against Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022.
Debbie Dooley, a tea party organizer who rose to national prominence after leading grassroots efforts to fight then-President Barack Obama’s policies and is now an ardent Trump ally.
Debbie McCord, an activist from Evans who was a member of the Arrangements Committee during the 2016 RNC.
Kandiss Taylor, the chair of the 1st District GOP and a former candidate for governor who unsuccessfully challenged Kemp on a “Jesus, Guns and Babies” platform fueled by conspiracy theories.
Sunny Wong, a founder of the Chinese-American Republicans who was the Georgia GOP’s liaison to the state’s Chinese community.
