Georgia Caucus

The recent special election in Georgia's 6th District was the most expensive special election in history, with over $50 million spent.

 

Democrat Jon Ossoff almost won the election in the first round in large part due to Republican infighting. 11 Republicans ran and 4 became major contenders. Between them, the Republicans spent over $3 million running each other down in attack ads, while Ossoff was left largely untouched and almost won the race outright.

 

The reality is that this hugely expensive and divisive first round could have been avoided if the political parties had simply used the convention method for picking their candidates.

 

Karen Handel was the Republican front-runner from the beginning and the eventual Republican nominee. However, it was not necessary for the Republicans to spend two months and $3 million in their primary process.

 

Here's how it would work......

 

Handel or another Republican should have been nominated by the Sixth District Republican Convention, which would have saved millions and allowed candidates to compete without attacking each other every day and night in TV ads. The Republican County Conventions in Cobb, DeKalb, and Fulton counties would have met in March to elect hundreds of conservative activists and party leaders to serve as delegates to the Sixth District Convention on April 22. 

 

This approach would have several advantages:

• Save Money - The cost of running for the nomination of a convention is just a fraction of running in a primary.

• Level the Playing Field - Candidates can personally speak with each delegate and interact with them in a way that is simply not possible in a primary.

• Stop the Fratricidal Infighting - Republicans spent over $3 million attacking each other when they could have been used that money against the Democrats.

• Grow the Party - The county parties would have seen an explosion in turnout at their conventions with hundreds of more people would have participated in the convention process as delegates if the convention had been picking the nominee. 

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So how do we get there?

 

Contact Your GAGOP State Committee Member and ask them to pass a resolution supporting a change in state law allowing the GAGOP to pursue changes like the ones suggested above.