Oconee County Republican Party Vice Chairman Colby Baker opened the party’s meeting on Monday with a review of the schedule for the upcoming county, district, and state conventions.
Guest speaker Jason Thompson, one of three Georgia members of the Republican National Committee, took the cue.
Election of the precinct chairs, which is to take place before the party convention on March 22, is really important, Thompson said.
If the chairs organized their neighborhoods and their precincts the way they are supposed to, he said, “we never lose” an election.
Participants in the precinct caucuses are to begin assembling at 9 a.m. on March 22 at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus Lobby Meeting Room, 1305 Jennings Mill Road.
The doors will close at 10 a.m., Baker said, and the work of the caucuses must be completed before the 11 a.m. County Convention.
The County Convention also is important, Thompson said, because participants will elect representatives to the 10th Congressional District Convention on April 26, to be held at the Civic Center in Oconee County, and to the State Convention in Dalton on June 6 and 7.
Thompson On Precinct Caucuses
Thompson said he had been asked by Kathy Hurley, Oconee County Party Chair, to talk about the upcoming caucuses.
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| Thompson 2/24/2025 |
Hurley wasn’t able to attend the meeting on Monday (Feb. 24) at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus Lobby Meeting Room because of illness.
Twenty people turned out for the meeting on Monday at which Thompson spoke.
Thompson first was elected to the Republican National Committee in August 2018. He is an attorney practicing in metro-Atlanta who lives in Suwanee, in Gwinnett County.
“Whoever is elected as precinct chair really takes the responsibility to organize their precinct and their neighborhood,” Thompson said.
Oconee County has just reduced the number of its precincts from eight to four, and Thompson said “It seems to me it is going to be a little harder for you all since they consolidated these precincts.”
He said participants at the caucuses need to ask the persons running for chair “Are you really willing to work and organize the precinct? That should be important to you. Try to get people who want to work and organize their precinct.”
“If we did this the right way and precinct chairs just cared about the precinct and didn’t just want to go on up to the next level or mark that down on the resume,” Thompson said, “we would win every time.”
“If they were organizing the precincts,” he continued, “we’d win races that we shouldn’t win or normally wouldn’t win if they were really going and organizing in their neighborhoods, we would win all of the time.”
Comments On RNC
Thompson switched to observations about the Republican National Committee after about five minutes talking about the importance of the caucuses.
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| Convention Schedule |
The three Georgia members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) are state Chair Josh McKoon, Thompson, and Amy Kremer.
“Josh McKoon has done a great job,” Thompson said. “He took over the steering wheel of the Titanic. And got us out of the mess.”
“Things are going well,” Thompson said of the RNC. “We have a great new chairman, Michael Whatley.”
Thompson said then former President Donald Trump asked Ronna McDaniel to resign as chair in 2024.
“If she didn’t resign I don’t believe Trump would have won,” Thompson said. “The reason I say that is because I don’t believe she really cared about election integrity. She was just paying lip service to it.”
Thompson said Whatley, when he took over as chair, recognized the importance of “allied groups,” such as Turning Point USA.
“We all came together as a cohesive unit,” Thompson said. “And it was huge for this election. Not to mention that (Democratic Party nominee) Kamala Harris is an idiot and that helped too.”
Responses To Questions
Thompson spoke for about 20 minutes total, with the last 10 minutes devoted to responses to questions.
“Republican women win elections,” he said in response to one question.
“One group that I don’t think we would have won without them is the Black Republican coalition group,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the shift, especially in Black men, Donald Trump wouldn’t have won.”
Thompson said Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is “a good candidate” who is going to be difficult to beat when he is up for re-election in 2026.
Ossoff has gotten a lot of credit for taking on the poor performance of the U.S. Post Office, Thompson said.
In Senate hearings in December, Ossoff challenged Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about problems with mail service in Georgia, and particularly about problems at the Atlanta Post Office.
DeJoy was appointed in May of 2020 by the USPS Board of Governors, all of whom had been selected by President Trump.
“So it will take someone like (Gov. Brian) Kemp to beat him,” Thompson said of Ossoff. “No doubt.”
Thompson said the state should move to voter registration by party and closed primaries, because “What we don’t want is a bunch of Democrats coming in and influencing our elections.”
Comments On Gwinnett County
“Gwinnett is looking more like DeKalb every day,” Thompson said.
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| Congressional Districts In North Georgia |
He said he lives “in the best part in Suwanee, government-wise. It doesn’t really have to be that way.”
Thompson said Cobb County “used to be the crown jewel of Georgia for Republicans. Solid. And then they just started shoving in apartments everywhere. And then it happened in Gwinnett. And it just changed. Everything changed.”
“It doesn’t mean that everybody that is living in an apartment is a Democrat,” Thompson said. “It just takes work. I’m not convinced that Gwinnett is just totally blue and forever lost. It will just take work and you can bring it back.”
In the latest (2023) version of Georgia’s Congressional Districts, Gwinnett is divided into four U.S. House Districts: the Fourth (west side of county, including Duluth): the Ninth (the north side of Lawrenceville and north to Suwanee and Buford): the 10th (Dacula and east); and the 13th (the south side of Lawrenceville, Snellville, and south.)
Democratic Presidential Candidate Harris carried Gwinnett 56.65 percent to 41.13 percent for Trump.
In DeKalb, Harris won 81.86 percent to 17.11 percent from Trump.
In Cobb, the vote was 56.91 percent for Harris and 42.03 percent for Trump.
Democrat Hank Johnson represents the Fourth District; Republican Andrew Clyde Represents the Ninth District; Republican Mike Collins represents the 10th District, and Democrat David Scott represents the 13th District.
The 10th Congressional District, is made up of 16 complete counties, including both Oconee and Clarke, and four partial counties, including Gwinnett.
Democratic And Indivisible 10 Gathering
The Oconee County Democratic Party and Indivisible 10 (for the 10th Congressional District) are holding a rally at 11:30 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 28) outside the entrance to Costco on Parkway Boulevard and the Oconee Connector.
Participants are being asked to make signs supporting Costco “for supporting DEI and for paying their employees a living wage.”
According to a CBS news report from Jan. 24, 2025, Costco shareholders rejected a shareholder “proposal urging the wholesale club operator to evaluate any risks posed by its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices.”
That news story said that “Prior to the shareholder meeting, Costco's Board of Directors had voted unanimously to ask investors to reject the motion.”
According to the CBS report, the Board of Director said "our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary. The report requested by this proposal would not provide meaningful additional information."
NOTE: The Oconee County Republican Party will not allow me to video or audio record its meetings.
At its January meeting, Party Chair Hurley said this policy is in place so that "those present feel free to ask questions."
1 comment:
McKoon recently published a list of recommendations that would make voting more difficult for many voters across the state. This list is right out of the 2025 Project. This particular portion regarding voting, in my opinion is a list of ways to stop non republicans from voting. Ending early voting is on the list. I find that odd..here in Oconee County most republicans vote early. The most blatant of voter suppression was removing drop boxes from outside BOER offices and putting them inside the offices. In Oconee the “drop box “ is in the window where a staff member is sitting. Obviously, anyone who is dropping off their ballot is just going to hand it to the staff member right in front of them. The Republicans removed those boxes to make it harder for working class voters to vote. Now they want to stop early voting. Ten voters showed up at the BOER meeting to ask the BOER to vote NO to reducing the number of precincts. The ONLY BOER member that spoke in favor of NOT reducing the number was the lone Democrat. Not one single citizen spoke in favor of reducing the number of precincts. Regardless, the Republican controlled BOER paid no attention to the citizens input and voted yes. So in 2026 when Mr. and Mrs. Republican have to drive another few miles to vote and are angry..please contact the Republicans on the BOER. The BOER staff is the best! This decision was not made by them. Every voter will receive notice as to where their new precinct is. Unfortunately, many voters will not be aware and will go to their previous polling place. And they are going to be angry. Please don’t take it out on the staff. Call Kirk Shook, Jay Hanley and Doug Hammond.
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