Taylor named chair of Dougherty Republican Party

ALBANY — As the national Republican Party works, often vainly given the current state of politics in America, to attract a broader base to its ranks, party leaders might do well to take a look at the GOP Party in Albany and Dougherty County.

A year after naming an openly gay man to the chairmanship of the Dougherty County Republican Party, that group has named a young African-American as his successor.

Tracy Taylor, who made an unsuccessful bid last year for the House District 153 seat that was claimed by Democrat CaMia Hopson, has been named chairman of the local GOP Party, replacing Stephen Brimberry in that role.

“While running for office, I had the privilege of traveling across the state and meeting a lot of people in the Republican Party who were, frankly, pleasantly surprised to see a young African-American man running as a Republican, which is not exactly a popular thing in our country at this time,” Taylor said Thursday. “But they saw that I embrace the conservative values of the Republican Party, and people throughout the party, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have told me they’d like to see me in a leadership position.”

Brimberry, whose busy schedule led him to step down from the local party chairmanship and support Taylor in that position, said his and Taylor’s primary goals are the same: to bring diversity to their party.

“Albany’s makeup is overwhelmingly African-American, and I think Tracy has the energy and the enthusiasm to go out and recruit others in that demographic who have similar conservative values but who have maybe been afraid to express those values,” Brimberry said. “I mean, who better to go into a school system that is overwhelmingly African-American and talk to young people about getting involved in the political process than an energetic, young African-American man?

“Tracy is no doubt going to have haters; I got a lot of negative feedback being an openly gay person in a leadership position with the Republican Party. But I share the party’s conservative values. And, as I remind my friends in the gay community, President Trump was the first American president, after the massacre in that gay Florida nightclub, to embrace the LGBTQ community as part of the American community.”

Taylor said that, in addition to recruiting more African-Americans to the local Republican party, he wants to find “qualified Republican candidates who want to be part of the process.”

“I believe the Dougherty County Republican Party is sending out a significant message,” Taylor said. “There is a strong conservative voice in our African-American community, especially among military personnel, and I want them to know that it’s OK to step out and stand up for their convictions.

“I’m a first responder (a firefighter with the Waycross Fire Department), I’m a proud African-American, and I believe in conservative, family values. I know there are others in our community who share those values. I want to help close the gap in the racial divide that plagues our community.”