Georgia Republican Party

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The Georgia Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party.

Leadership

Governor Sonny Perdue is the titular head of the Georgia Republican Party. Alec Poitevint is the State Chairman, and Paul Bennecke is the Executive Director. Poitevint also serves as Republican National Committeeman representing Georgia. Linda Herren serves as the National Committeewoman.

Poitevint's term as State Chairman expires in 2007 and he is not running for re-election. Candidates to succeed him include First Vice Chairman Sue Everhart, Cobb County Republican Party Chairman Anthony-Scott Hobbs, and former Perdue aide John Watson.

History

The modern Georgia Republican Party traces its roots to the 1964 Presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, who became the first Republican Presidential candidate to carry Georgia since Reconstruction. Georgia Republicans struggled through the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to become a major party, occasionally winning victories such as the election of U.S. Senator Mack Mattingly in 1980, only to see those gains erased in subsequent elections.

Governor Sonny Perdue became the titular head of the Georgia Republican Party in 2002 when he was elected as the first Republican Governor since Reconstruction. Perdue immediately asserted himself in this role, asking Ralph Reed to relinquish the state chairmanship to Alec Poitevint, a former state party chairman who had headed Perdue's gubernatorial campaign. Poitevint was elected unanimously at the 2003 state convention and reelected in 2005. Poitevint's 2005 re-election was almost de-railed by a grass roots draft of Anthony-Scott Hobbs. Poitevint, whose term expires in 2007, is not running again.