Georgia GOP convention delegates pass resolution to ban Raffensperger from qualifying as Republican

This story was updated on Monday, June 9, 2025, at 7:39 p.m.

Delegates at the Georgia GOP convention in Dalton on Saturday passed a resolution that would not allow Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to qualify as a Republican for elected office, with one reason citing that the elected official “does not have the faith and confidence of the Georgia Republican Party.”

A copy of the resolution to deny Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to qualify as a Republican for elected office. (Courtesy of Georgia GOP)
Before the resolution’s passage, convention delegate Carter Mitchell of Bibb County spoke to WABE about why he supported it.

“This is over issues with the, mostly Dominion voting machines, his role as the Secretary of State of Georgia,” he said. “This is, I think, a very, relatively popular, amendment or resolution.”

Mitchell says he is not anti-machine when it comes to voting, just against Georgia using Dominion voting machines.

As for whether the party can ban a candidate from the Republican ballot, Mitchell did not stray away from staunch support of the resolution.

“Well, if anyone’s going to do it, it’s going to be the Georgia state convention that does it,” he noted.

Speaking after the convention ended on Saturday, newly reelected party chair Josh McKoon said that while the resolution represents the sense of the convention delegates, the party must follow the law.

“And the law of the state of Georgia is pretty clear, with regards to qualifying. So if someone submits the appropriate paperwork, including the loyalty oath, unless there is a case to be made that the loyalty oath would involve false swearing, I don’t really see a way for the Georgia Republican Party to decline someone the opportunity to qualify,” McKoon said.

A significant portion of the opposition to McKoon’s reelection came from activists who continue to raise concerns about the state’s voting machines and advocate for the state to switch to hand-marked paper ballots.

Regarding the resolution, it claims that it would be unconstitutional to force the party to accept a candidate. It also calls on the party to defend itself against any legal action that comes up.

Raffensperger’s office had no comment on the resolution.

The Secretary of State has not announced his plans for 2026, which may include running for reelection, running for U.S. Senate or for governor of Georgia.

Georgia GOP Senate candidate nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
Hoping to unseat Jon Ossoff, Buddy Carter cites Trump’s role in ending Israel-Iran conflict.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Buddy Carter, the coastal Georgia Republican congressman who hopes to become the state’s newest U.S. senator, has nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In a June 24, 2025, letter to Jørgen Watne Frydnes, who chairs the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, Carter cited the president’s “extraordinary and historic role in brokering an end to the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.”

Carter, who has billed himself as a “MAGA warrior,” was the first GOP candidate who announced a bid to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in his 2026 reelection bid. Ossoff, a Democrat, has been targeted as a top Republican priority in next year’s midterm elections.

On September 28, 2023, the Georgia Senate Republican Caucus indefinitely suspended Moore for attacking his Republican colleagues. Moore was banned from the House floor in March 2024 for making controversial comments during a day of remembrance for late Speaker David Ralston.

On January 15, 2025, Moore posted on social media that he would ignore his ban from the House, citing his duty under the Georgia Constitution to attend a joint session of the legislature to hear the State of the State address. Moore followed through on his warning on January 16, 2025, when he attempted to enter the House floor to attend the State of the State address by Governor Brian Kemp. He was blocked from entering the House floor by staff and law enforcement, attempted to push past officers to enter, was pushed to the floor after a scuffle, and was led away in handcuffs. Moore stated his rights were denied and that he had "more authority than the doorkeeper of the House".

Moore was arrested and booked into the Fulton County Jail. He was charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

Georgia Republican Mike Collins joins field seeking to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican Mike Collins on Monday joined the field challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in the state the GOP has named as their top target to add a Senate seat in 2026.

A second term member of Congress from a district east of Atlanta, Collins became the newest top Republican to get into the primary race. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is already running, while state Insurance Commissioner John King dropped out. Also expected to run is former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.

“I don’t know who Jon Ossoff really works for, but it sure as heck isn’t Georgia,” Collins said in a video released Monday. “It’s time to send a trucker to the U.S. Senate, steamroll the radical left, deliver on President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda and put the people of Georgia back in the driver’s seat.”

Collins had been mulling a run since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced in May that he would not run against Ossoff, depriving Republicans of their top choice to challenge a senator who won the 2021 runoff in the wake of the 2020 election. Twin victories by Ossoff and Raphael Warnock gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate at the time and. It was the first time since 2002 that Georgia had two Democratic senators.

Although Democrats have made Georgia increasingly competitive, Collins is among those who view Ossoff’s election as a fluke and proclaim that the state is still fundamentally conservative.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Says ‘I’d Clear the Field’ in Governor Race—But Backs Out of Running

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she may “one day” run for governor, and she’s certain about her victory, but it won’t be in 2026.

“If I was running for governor the entire world would know it because I would be all over the state of Georgia campaigning, I would have ads running, I would be raising scary amounts of money, and I would literally clear the field,” the MAGA Republican declared Tuesday in a post on X .

“I am humbled and grateful by the massive statewide support that I have to run for Governor, and if I wanted to run we all know I would win. It’s not even debatable,” she added.

Despite the bravado, however, Greene is holding off on a 2026 run—because she’s not so sure about her chances after all.

"I have a different perspective of the entire 2026 campaign cycle ahead and the fragile state of Republican control in Georgia‚” Greene continues, blasting the state’s “men only” GOP leadership for “overseeing the slow slide from red to blue.”


“The ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ wheeling and dealing at the hunting clubs and country clubs does not reflect the sentiment and issues of the vast majority of Georgia voters,” said Greene, who was first elected to her seat in 2020. “As a woman, none of this appeals to me. As a mother, none of this appeals to me. As a lifelong Georgian and business owner none of this appeals to me.”

Greene, who represents a predominantly rural stretch of northwestern Georgia, was also eyeing a run for Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff’s seat earlier this year.

But polling in May suggested that she would get trounced by Ossoff in a hypothetical matchup. After President Donald Trump reportedly expressed doubt she could win the state, which he carried by just over two points in 2024, Greene took herself out of the race with a similarly boisterous, long-winded X post.

For now, Greene looks set to stay in the House, where she sits on the powerful House Oversight Committee, though she’s leaving the door open to a future run.

“One day, I might just run without the blessing from the good ‘ole boys club or the out of state consulting leaches or even without the blessing of my favorite President,” Greene wrote. “One day, I might just run purely out of the blessing of the wonderful people of Georgia, my family and friends, but it won’t be in 2026.”

Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr are now the two leading Republican candidates to succeed Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is term-limited.

DEMOCRAT MICHAEL THURMOND ANNOUNCES RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Michael Thurmond on Wednesday announced his 2026 bid for Georgia governor, seeking to add the state’s top office to the long list of positions he has held.

Thurmond said in an interview Tuesday that he’s “going to fight for the people of Georgia every day,” but also pitching himself as someone who can bridge racial and political divides to become the first Democrat to win the state’s top office in 28 years.

Thurmond promised to be a leader who “will focus on the everyday issues that most Georgians are concerned about — i.e. the cost of groceries or rent or paying the mortgage, access to health care and quite frankly ending divisiveness that has prevented us from progressing more in this state.”

The 72-year-old Thurmond joins a Democratic field that already includes state Sen. Jason Esteves, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and others who are seeking their party’s nomination in an attempt to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who can’t run again after two terms.

Thurmond is one of only three Black people to win election to statewide office in Georgia, serving three terms as labor commissioner after first winning election in 1998. He was also the first Black state legislator from his hometown of Athens since Reconstruction when elected in 1986. Like all the other currently declared Democratic candidates, Thurmond is now seeking to become Georgia’s first Black governor.