Free Republic

For Georgia's black Republicans, 2005 was a breakthrough year. Melvin Everson and Willie Talton became the first African-American Republicans since Reconstruction to take office in the Georgia House of Representatives. Georgia's GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed an African-American, Harold Melton, to the Georgia Supreme Court. And the national Republican Party sought to project a more inclusive image. That included national GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman's July apology to NAACP conventioneers for the party's history of running racially polarizing campaigns. But for those Republicans preaching racial parity for the GOP, it's still a long way to the promised land. Reports of such...

Melvin Everson on Tuesday became the first black Republican since Reconstruction to win a contested election for the Georgia Legislature. In a squeaker of an election decided by a mere 27 votes, Everson defeated Warren Auld in a runoff for the state House District 106 seat in south Gwinnett County. Auld, a former Snellville city councilman, is white. "This is a great day for Snellville and it's a great day for me," Everson said. "It's just a prelude to what the Republican Party has to offer to African-Americans. A door has been opened and we need to seize this opportunity."...