Changes could be coming to the way Republican voters choose their candidates.
The state committee of the Georgia GOP will vote this weekend whether to study doing away with those summer primaries in favor of a convention of party insiders.
“It gives informed voters really the power to nominate the right people instead of a name that they know,” says Jason Thompson, who chairs the party's Seventh Congressional District of Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties.
“What it would do for Republicans is instead of having a bloodbath every time in the primary, it would help us battle it out at a convention,” says Thompson. “We get our person in there, and then they can use their money in the General Election.”
He tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish it would also prevent the high dollar spending on primary campaigns that most grassroots activists cannot afford.
But opponents say it would leave many voters out who don’t have time to go a convention to choose their nominees.
Incumbents, who generally do well in elections, would also have to go to those conventions just like any other candidate and give their case why they should be re-elected.
“That’s the beautiful part about a nominating convention... whether you’re brand new or whether you’re an entrenched incumbent, you have to come back and be held accountable to the people,” says Thompson.
The idea is one state lawmakers would have to approve and the U.S. Justice Department, likely, as well.
Time ran out during the state GOP convention last month, so the committee will vote on the resolution at its Saturday meeting in Milledgeville.