The RNC, under the direction of the party's presidential candidate, supervises the Republican National Convention, raises funds, and coordinates campaign strategy.

[5] Foster Blodgett, the chair of the party, opposed the removal of John Pope as governor of the Third Military District stating that "Reconstruction is now on a pivot" and that without action "the South would be forever lost to the Democrats".

[7] Congress refused to seat Georgia's delegation in 1869, and ordered new state legislative elections for December 1870, that the Republicans lost.

[9] After 1882, the Republican Party did not offer a full slate of candidates in Georgia (gubernatorial nor otherwise), cementing Democratic one-party rule in the state.

After the resignation of W. H. Rogers of McIntosh County in 1907 and the full disenfranchisement of African-Americans was completed in 1908, only white legislators could be elected by black voters.

In 1936, a compromise was made in which African-Americans would be reserved one-third membership on the state committee, but would not be allowed to higher office nor control over patronage, a mandate which would hold over the next few decades.

Much of these gains were due to the efforts of state chair Elbert Tuttle and activist Kiliaen Townsend, who organized a groundswell of support for Eisenhower within Atlanta's growing urban middle and upper class.

Townsend had previously organized support for Thomas E. Dewey's campaign in 1948, and Dewey's loss to Harry Truman halted further activity by Townsend until 1950, Eisenhower then appointed state chair Elbert Tuttle as a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which would then prove crucial for future Republican gains.

Tuttle, as a federal judge, would chair the panel which decided in which courts the multiple subsequent suits against the county unit system were tried, and then directed the legislature's reapportionment to give urban and suburban citizens, including African-American and many white immigrant Republican voters, a shot at fairer representation.

Georgia Republicans struggled through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to become a major party, occasionally winning victories such as the election of Newt Gingrich[13] in 1979.

During the decade, Republicans gained a majority in the congressional delegation after a redistricting plan adopted by the General Assembly controlled by Democrats backfired.

[14] Also, Georgia played a pivotal role in national affairs, as Congressman Newt Gingrich propelled to the top, becoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The elephant was originally constructed by artist Thomas Nast, in response to the criticism of a possible third term by President Ulysses S. Grant.

The symbol of the elephant shows up regularly on campaign merchandise and other party materials and rivals the Democrats' donkey.

Out of the 14 seats Georgia is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, 9 are held by Republicans: Rufus Bullock served from 1868 to 1871 before the Ku Klux Klan ran him out of office for appealing to the federal government to send military reinforcements to protect African-American legislators who had been expelled from the General Assembly as well as disenfranchised African American voters.

Benjamin Conley was sworn in and served for 72 days following Bullock's resignation until Confederate Colonel and Democrat James M. Smith was elected for the next term.

He served in the U.S. Air Force, earning the rank of captain, before receiving his honorable discharge and starting up a small business in Raleigh, N.C.