What makes a Republican a Republican or a Democrat a Democrat? Is it their principles and the policies they believe will best serve their community? Or is it the approval of party leadership?
That’s the question at the heart of a case recently revived by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of the Catoosa County GOP in a 2024 challenge to the ballot access of four Republican candidates.
The recent ruling sends the case back to the district court and comes on the heels of the state GOP convention, where delegates passed a resolution seeking to bar Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from qualifying to run for any office as a Republican.
Raffensperger, who won another term as the state’s top election official in 2022, is seen as a potential candidate for higher office in 2026. But some Republicans dislike him for his refusal to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia and over the state’s use of voting machines over paper ballots.
Josh McKoon, chair of the Georgia Republican Party, told reporters at the convention he didn’t see a way within state law to keep Raffensperger from qualifying.