Brad Carver, an attorney in Atlanta and chairman for Georgia’s 11th Congressional District, who has been involved with the Georgia GOP for years, attended the Republican National Convention this year for the first time as a delegate.
Carver said his main job at the convention is to promote unity in Georgia Republican Party around nominee Donald Trump.
The Red & Black reach out to Carver at the convention for some insight into his ideas about the election and the role of a delegate at the RNC.
The Red & Black: Why did you decided to become a delegate?
Brad Carver: Well I have been in the Republican Party and involved in the Republican Party since I was in high school. I started out as a neighborhood leader, and then a precinct chairman and then the House chairman and then I became a vice chairman of my county, Fulton County, then I ran to be a congressional district chairman. I’m responsible for Fulton County, Cobb County, Cherokee County and Bartow County.
R&B: Are you in charge of scouting different candidates for different seats and helping promote those candidates?
BC: I do. My job is to support all of our candidates most importantly being our congressman, but then I also support our state representatives, our state senators, county commissioners, mayors, city council.
R&B: So how many times have you been a delegate?
BC: This is my second time [at a convention]. I was an alternate delegate four years ago. This is my first time as a delegate. I consider it like a lifetime achievement.
R&B: For all your work in the party?
BC: That’s right. In other words, I’ve done it now, so it’ll be an opportunity for someone else the next time.
R&B: What do you think the Republican Party has to offer young people, especially the 18 to 25 group?
BC: Well I think if they look to the fact that we are $19 trillion in debt that at least the Republican Party is talking about solutions to that cause we can’t continue on this path. We are headed down a path toward bankruptcy like Greece, and what that means to people who are your age is their futures are being leveraged.
That’s a situation where they are ultimately going to have to pay that price. In my opinion, we have to come together as parties. We are going to have to have entitlement reform. We are going to have to reform social security. We are going to have to reform Medicare. We have to control a lot of out of control spending, and I just think at the end of the day the consensus opinion is the Republicans are more fiscally responsible than the Democrats.
R&B: Now just a little bit about coming together and uniting. Obviously there has been some trouble with that in the past couple of days. How do you feel about the roll call battle that occurred and whatever D.C. did? What do you think the problem is there and how do you think Donald Trump and the Republican Party should correct it?
BC: My view on the subject is I think probably 65 percent of the people who were in that room really favor the position that the rules would not be changed. Perhaps we should have done a roll call vote cause I think it would have made it really clear to everybody where everybody stood. I can tell you that an overwhelming number of people from the Georgia delegation are supporting of Donald Trump. We are the fifth largest delegation, and we are supporting Trump and unifying our party.
We also have California sitting right in front of us. They are a group that is twice as big as we are. They were unanimously in support of Trump. The New York delegation as well … That’s five of the six top states. Ted Cruz had a lot of support in Texas. If you think about it, that’s five of the six top states that are very supportive of Donald Trump
R&B: Just to clarify, what rule was it that was being debated or changes being debated?
BC: Well the main thing was there was an attempt among the Never Trump people in the rules committee to have a minority report. That minority report would have given perhaps an opportunity to unbind the delegates cause right now we are bound in the state of Georgia the law requires me to vote for Marco Rubio.
R&B: Because Marco Rubio won your congressional district?
BC: Marco Rubio won Fulton County, the area that I was in, so I am actually a Marco Rubio delegate. Donald Trump actually won our congressional district barely, but Marco Rubio certainly won the county. He won Clarke County, too.
R&B: That was the only county outside of the Atlanta circle that he won?
BC: Cobb County, Fulton County, DeKalb County and Clarke County.
R&B: Do you think Donald Trump is doing a good job of reaching out to Never Trump supporters? Or do you think Never Trump supporters are being too stubborn with their attempts?
BC: Well, I’m going to be honest with you, I’d like to see a little bit more movement on both sides. I think the Never Trump people need to get on board cause in my opinion if we get 90 percent of the Republican votes, we are going to win this election. Donald Trump is going to win the independent vote. He’s already showing that.
The only way we don’t win this election is if we don’t have a unified Republican Party. But I think we are going to get there. I think 80 percent of the Republicans are on board with Donald Trump, and I think by the end of this weekend, and later this week, we will be at 90 percent.
R&B: What do you think about Mike Pence being chosen as the vice president?
BC: Well, I wanted Newt Gingrich. He would have been my choice. Great for the state of Georgia. He’s brilliant, smart, incredible. But, I think Mike Pence is a good choice. I think Mike Pence was a unifying choice.
I think Donald Trump’s weakness is among the conservative voters, and Mike Pence is a solid conservative.
R&B: While Mike Pence certainly appeals to the Christian conservative in the party, are you concerned that their views don’t necessarily align a lot with things, for example trade, is a big splitting point between them? Do you think that could be a problem going into the election?
BC: Well you know, Donald Trump certainly talks about fair trade rather than free trade, and even I’ve heard Newt Gingrich talk about this. We need to be looking at those trade deals and making sure they are right for the United States. Within the day, it is Congress that sets the legislative parties, and I am a free trade guy. That would be one of the areas where I am a little concerned of what our presidential nominee supports.
But policy is about compromise, and I do think that Donald Trump brings up some really good points. One of the reasons he is getting such appeal across working class America is the fact that they feel really hurt by the trade policies that we have had in the past.
R&B: It’s hard to see the benefits of them because even if they have benefits they are usually pretty discrete?
BC: Well that’s right. You know. In general, I think that free trade is good for every body in the world … but it’s hard to make that argument when somebody loses their job.
R&B: You are not going to tell someone who loses their job that macro-economic forces caused this.
BC: That’s right. So I do think that Donald Trump has tapped into a frustration of working class America, so I think he is doing well with private sector, union voters out there. I think he is going to continue to. I think it’s probably a reality of our Republican Party that we are going to need to reach out to those voters.
I tell everybody. The only way to win a election is to have a majority. And it’s hard to put your Christian Republicans together and come up with a majority of the country. Obama has demonstrated that in the last two elections. Now with the new group of voters we have I think we will have a majority. But, it’s going to include working class America as a part of it. I think there is a new constituent group in the Republican Party, and we have to recognize that.
R&B: To close, can you elaborate a little more on your experience as a delegate, and what other things delegates do, besides what we see with the roll call vote on the floor?
BC: Well, I’ll tell you what my job has been with this delegation. I’m just trying to bring everybody together. I have a good friend of mine Jason right here. We have both worked and supported Marco Rubio in the presidential election. Jason, me and other members of the delegation realize it’s our job to unify. So that’s what I try to work hard to do. ‘Is everybody there? 100 percent?’ We’re not 100 percent. I can tell you the state of Georgia is probably 95 percent there. I hope by the end of this convention, we can get up to 100 percent.
