The Republican Party’s national “unity tour” in Dallas has highlighted divisions within the Georgia GOP, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon led the state’s Republican delegation at the party’s first midterm convention in Dallas, where the event was intended to showcase unity. In Georgia, however, McKoon has continued to face disputes within the party, the AJC reported.

The first clash involved Vernon Jones, a former Democrat who switched parties and lost his Republican bid for secretary of state in June. Jones circulated what McKoon called a false rumor that the party chair planned to resign.

“This is a lie,” McKoon said. “It is also a statement from Vernon Jones. But I repeat myself.”

The latest dispute involves the Georgia Republican Assembly, a far-right, MAGA-aligned faction that has feuded with McKoon and the more establishment-oriented wing of the state party for years. The GRA is pursuing a lawsuit over the party’s decision to allow Brad Raffensperger to qualify for the governor’s race, despite a 2025 state convention resolution that barred Raffensperger from running as a Republican.

The GRA said Raffensperger “does not have the faith and confidence of the Georgia Republican Party.” The group also described him as “repugnant to its brand [and] to the principles of the United States of America.”

Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state and the official responsible for overseeing elections, became a target of President Donald Trump after Trump lost the state in 2020. Trump mounted a pressure campaign seeking to ensure that a follow-up manual recount of the vote overturned his loss.

“Georgia Secretary of State, a so-called Republican (RINO), won’t let the people checking the ballots see the signatures for fraud,” Trump posted on X at the time. “Why? Without this the whole process is very unfair and close to meaningless. Everyone knows that we won the state.”

Raffensperger was allowed to qualify for the race but later lost the May primary to a more pro-Trump opponent. The Georgia GOP is seeking dismissal of the GRA lawsuit, arguing in part that Raffensperger’s defeat made the dispute moot.

In a Thursday filing, however, the GRA argued that the case extends beyond Raffensperger, the AJC reported. The group wants a judge to determine whether resolutions adopted by state convention delegates must be applied to future elections.

McKoon sharply criticized the lawsuit. “There probably are things that could be done eight weeks before Election Day that are dumber than this, but none come to mind at the moment,” he said.

McKoon also said he would seek attorneys’ fees and sanctions if the party prevails in court. Separately, he asked the State Ethics Commission to impose nearly $150,000 in penalties on the GRA and its affiliated political action committee over alleged campaign finance violations.

“None of the ‘plaintiffs’ can pretend they have any interest in winning this year when they pull this sort of absurd stunt,” McKoon wrote, “but I guess they need a gimmick to raise money to pay the fines assessed by the Ethics Commission against the GRA.”