Georgia Republican Party
The Georgia Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Georgia and one of the two major political parties and the current favored party in the state and is currently chaired by David Shafer. 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 reelected in June 2020 to a four-year term after being first elected in 2018 to fill the term of Randy Evans, who was appointed ambassador to Luxembourg by President Donald Trump. Ginger Howard was first elected at the 2016 State Convention as the current RNC Committeewoman and was reelected in June 2020 to a second term. Republicans hold every statewide, elected constitutional office in Georgia, as well as majorities in both the State House and the State Senate. Former senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue were defeated in the 2020-21 United States Senate election in Georgia and the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia respectively, and Republicans hold 9 out of 14 of Georgia's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican National Committee (RNC) 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 Foster Blodgett, the chair of the party, opposed the removal of John Pope as governor of the Third Military District stating that "Reconstruction is now on a pivot" and that without action "the South would be forever lost to the Democrats". Rufus Bullock received the Republican gubernatorial nomination from the delegates of the constitutional convention rather than a party convention. Bullock was elected 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. (In modern times the lieutenant governor is the next in line if the governor cannot serve, but the role of lieutenant governor had not yet been created by that time.) 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. On September 3, 1868,