Meet the first female Muscogee Republican Party chair, helping host GA GOP convention
Carmen Rice certainly is having a moment.
She’s the first female chair of the Muscogee County Republican Party and she’s helping Columbus host the Georgia GOP convention for the first time in 11 years. Also, a former president, Donald Trump, will speak at the state party’s event for the first time.
Rice, 48, graduated from Christian Heritage Academy in Columbus. Her paid job involves providing payroll, bookkeeping and human resources services for several companies with multiple food franchises, but this convention is her current focus.
“We’re very excited to have the convention in Columbus,” Rice told the Ledger-Enquirer. “(Former Muscogee County GOP chairman) Alton Russell had that arranged before I became chairman in March. Being from Columbus, it’s a big deal to be hosting the event. … We have a tremendous group of volunteers locally that are jumping in, that are excited, and I have people across the state that are also contacting me, ‘How can I volunteer, be there?’”
Taking a break from her preparations, Rice visited the L-E for a Q&A. Here are excerpts from that interview, edited for brevity and clarity:
How did Columbus end up being the host?
“That was decided among the executive state committee, and that has been in the works for well over a year.”
What’s it like for you as a lifetime resident of Columbus and being active in politics to see your city getting so much attention from hosting this convention?
“There’s a lot of things I could speak for on the community, on its ability, the way the community has developed and grown and developed downtown and the college community and having Mercer (University Medical School satellite campus) come. These opportunities for Columbus have opened up so much more, have opened the eyes. For instance, I hosted a Republican Leadership for Georgia seminar here for the members. The alumni came, and they were floored. It had been years since they had been in Columbus. … They go to different towns in Georgia over 10 months, and, at the end, they said Columbus was their favorite. … We just have so much here. I’m very excited for people to get to see that.”
What part of the convention are you most looking forward to?
“One of the things is just the fellowship of other people. We are going to be rolling up our sleeves and working so hard, and I think that begins first with good relationships, whether that’s with your leadership or with people that are helping you knock on doors. … Watching it unfold, just the crowds and the energy at the convention, it’s going to be electric.”
What’s the significance of having the Georgia GOP convention in Muscogee County, which leans Democratic in terms of its voting?
“We do have a large Republican base here. … Our tent has gotten larger as a Republican Party, so what you’re going to see in our convention is a lot of Republicans with different ideas, but we have the same core working on the big things together. We’re going to unite on those things. We’ve had people from other parties switch over to Republican in the last two years, so I’m excited to see how the numbers shift and change and we grow.”
What does it mean for you to be the first female Muscogee GOP chair?
“For me, I mean, that was something that just kind of came. I had a lot of leadership opportunities along the way. It’s a volunteer position, obviously, and it’s something that I’m very honored that people put the faith in me to do that. I just am very thankful for the opportunity, but I’m really thankful for a fantastic team, and we’re looking at growing, and we’re doing a lot of new things, like working on growing our membership and actually giving back to the community. We have a new program called Republican Hands. In every quarter, we’re going to be working on doing something in our community to give back, whether it’s time, resources. We just want to make sure that we’re a very positive influence. We’re not just doing elections, but when election season’s coming, we’re rolling, and we’d like more people to join us.”
Why are you involved in politics at all?
“Just from a young age, I’ve always been interested. Even in high school, at lunch breaks, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh instead of doing high school things.”
Why are you a Republican?
“I’m a Republican because I believe in the core values of fiscal responsibility and conservative values and closed borders.”
Where did your political views come from?
“It’s always been a family interest of mine. I was in a small private school growing up. … Whether it was pro life marches or things like that I was involved in, that was a very important issue. It’s still an important issue to me. … My parents gave me a lot of room and tools for me to go and make decisions for myself. It was by no means an indoctrination. It was just something that they were encouraging for me to explore, and they’re very encouraging for me in this position now.”
Which presidential candidate are you supporting?
“I can’t say that before the primary. The important thing is, after the primary, no matter who wins the primary, we’re going to unite and support that candidate.”
Regardless of who is the Republican nominee, why is it important in your mind for a Republican to be president?
“We need these conservative values back in our White House, and the open borders that really is a big concern for a lot of people, and our economy. We’ve got some people with some good ideas, abilities to fix that, and we’re excited to support them.”
The party is divided between Trump and anti-Trump factions. The governor and secretary of state, the two most prominent Republicans in the state, aren’t attending this convention. What does that say about the status of the party and how much does that division concern you?
“I worked very hard on Gov. Kemp’s campaign. I was very thankful for that. That was a big win for us. As far as him not being here, I wish he was. That’s more a question for him. But I will say our party has become more inclusive over time. While doing that, the tent’s gotten larger. … We have a lot of different ideas, and I value us having different ideas and including people with different ideas. I think that’s exciting. But when it comes down to core things and the candidates, we’re all working together.”
What’s the evidence that the party has become more inclusive?
“There’s more social issues, social groups. We’ve been labeled as being homophobic or bigots and stuff like that, and it’s just not true. I mean, we’re very inclusive. We’re very excited about anyone that wants to help with the Republican Party and help get Republicans elected. … It’s a very different time, very exciting time. Not that anything in the past was bad, but to have a female (local chair), we’re seeing that a lot across the party. Our party has shifted a lot from I guess the way it’s always considered being. … We’re growing and developing.”
What are the major issues at this convention?
“It’s going to be the upcoming presidential election and having so many candidates lined up to run. I think utilizing this convention to grow not only Muscogee’s party but all the parties across the state is going to be a big focus.”
What else do you hope the party accomplishes at this convention?
“We have some proposed rule changes and resolutions that will come up. The main thing is electing our state officers.”
What are those proposed rule changes?
“They’re about how we select our candidates moving forward. That’s probably our biggest one.”
What’s the proposed change?
“I don’t really want to speak too much on that. That’s going to be at the convention and for the public at that time.”
What else should folks know about the convention, what it means for Columbus and you?
“As far as the party, I just really want to focus on growth. No matter who our state chairman is moving forward, they’re going to bring new training tools I’m very excited about. We’re going to open our training within our party opportunities in the community, members of the Republican Party, to join in on that and grow and do grassroots. Our grassroots initiatives, we’re really interested in that.”
For example?
“One of the things I’d like to incorporate is actually a new membership, kind of similar to what a lot of churches do. A lot of times you can join, then everybody shakes your hand, they go out to eat, and you don’t really figure out how to plug in. We want to show members how to plug in. Some people can walk miles. Those people are great for knocking on doors. Some people don’t. We have some that are even a shut-in. They might be willing to write postcards and make phone calls. We have a good precinct program going on. We’ve got captains already assigned for each one.”
