The Georgia Hour, episode 67: Georgia GOP’s Battle Against MAGA Influence

An effort to purge MAGA influ­ence and “RINO-fy” the Geor­gia GOP is under­way, with dark mon­ey and strate­gic maneu­ver­ing at play. Key fig­ures like Coop­er Whit­mire, a Turn­ing Point USA employ­ee and 9th dis­trict res­o­lu­tion com­mit­tee chair, and Josh McK­oon, backed by the estab­lish­ment, are cen­tral to this push. The 9th dis­trict, a for­mer Repub­li­can strong­hold, elect­ed Stephen Aaron as chair, who avoids Trump ref­er­ences and lim­its res­o­lu­tions to avoid media atten­tion. McK­oon, lay­ing the ground­work for a Bri­an Kemp 2028 pres­i­den­tial run, is dis­tanc­ing the par­ty from Trump and elec­tion fraud nar­ra­tives, with sup­port from the AJC and a 9‑page NDA to con­trol can­di­dates. Grass­roots vic­to­ries, like David Oles’ reelec­tion in the 11th dis­trict and paper bal­lots in sev­er­al dis­tricts, show resis­tance, but the estab­lish­ment secured wins in the 9th and 14th dis­tricts. Tac­tics like quo­rum calls and rules, such as main­tain­ing a 2/3 vote for res­o­lu­tions, hin­der grass­roots efforts. Turn­ing Point USA and VFAF endorse­ments tar­get anti-MAGA can­di­dates, while fig­ures like Stan Gunter, a for­mer Demo­c­rat, hold sway despite strong Trump sup­port in coun­tries like Union and Towns. The grass­roots face an uphill but winnable fight.