Georgia GOP chair facing pressure to dump adviser over white nationalist posts

Georgia Democrats are turning up the pressure on the state's Republican Party chair to dump a special adviser with a history of amplifying white nationalist views on social media.

State GOP Chairman Josh McKoon appointed conservative activist and failed legislative candidate Brad Barnes to an unpaid advisory post last month to help the party use technology to reach voters, but Democrats have flagged his hateful online posts and say his continued affiliation is "despicable," reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Will Burt Jones, Chris Carr, Brad Raffensperger, Mike Collins, Buddy Carter, and Derek Dooley condemn Barnes’ hate and call for his resignation — or can Georgians assume from Republicans’ deafening silence that they condone it?” said Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey.

GOP National Committeeman Jason Thompson is one of the few state Republican leaders to speak out against Barnes, who made an antisemitic swipe against Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, and called for him to step down from his post.

“It’s easy to stay quiet and not rock the boat in politics, but we are called to lead,” Thompson posted on X.

Barnes describes himself online as a “national populist" but has posted purportedly white nationalist content online, stating that “culture is the social expression of genetics," agreeing with debunked theories that racial groups are genetically predisposed to certain behaviors and calling for "remigration" from the United States.

“Mass Remigration is the MODERATE sensible and centered position,” Barnes posted in October 2024. “The problems are obvious and undeniable now even to the most casual of morons. However many of the solutions are not nearly as nice. Remigration the simple sensible solution.”

Remigration is a term first used by far-right political figures in Europe as a euphemism for forced removal and even ethnic cleansing of non-white immigrants and their descendants. Brandon Cory Goldberg, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia’s Jewish Council, called Barnes' continued service troubling.

“The hypocrisy of Georgia Republicans paying lip service to supporting the Jewish community while condoning antisemitism within their own ranks is stunning,” Goldberg said.