| Election 2022 was rough. We did not get a lot of what we wanted. Maryland did not see a Red Wave, nor, in truth, did the rest of the Country. The Democrats think they have “saved the Republic.” What they’ve saved it from, other than a balance of power, is unclear. In Howard County, we have one less Republican seat in the Maryland Legislature and an ethically challenged Democrat still sitting in the Executive’s office. Guarded congratulations to Trent Kittleman and David Yungmann. We are also pleased to see Dr. Chen most likely taking a seat on the Board of Education. Thank you to Allan Kittleman, Yuripzy Morgan, Bob Cockey, Reid Novotny, Lisa Kim, Dr. Jenny Zeng, Chris Yates, Padraic Walsh, Sean McCurdy, Sheila Jennifer, Bill Campbell and John McMahon for fighting the good fight. I can say without hype that we had amazing candidates. Thank you to our Central Committee for working tirelessly, keeping us informed, and keeping us positive. Thanks to Dan Kramer and the Republican Club and Lisa Feinberg and the Republican Women’s club for their support, and to all the volunteers and campaign staffers who worked Get Out the Vote, put up and took down signs, knocked on doors, pressed SEND thousands of times on texts, cooked meals, sat booths, and walked in parades. Thanks to our donors, and especially to David Yungmann and Jay Geraden for underwriting our Get Out the Vote efforts. Where do we go from here? Well, first, the GOP of Howard County will hold a closed-session organizational meeting on November 22nd. Sean McCurdy, who earned the most votes for a Central Committee seat, will chair that meeting. We will swear in seven new Central Committee members and elect a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. And then we go to work. We are the minority party, but we still have an important role to play in our County. Despite our disappointment, the elected now work for US. And we need to hold them ACCOUNTABLE. We will do that by kick-starting our legislative watch, focusing a very sharp lens on the activities of OUR representatives, reporting on their performance. We need to CONTROL THE MESSAGE that’s out there about the GOP, and that includes challenging groups like HCEA with their dishonest “Apple Ballot,” as well as putting deeper dives into over-simplified issues out there. We need to FUNDRAISE to support candidates and promote issue-specific efforts. We need to RECRUIT CANDIDATES starting NOW. Finally, I believe we would be better served to CENTRALIZE COORDINATION of our activities around election time—door-knocking, signs, ad campaigns. It’s our County. It’s broken and stupid sometimes, but it’s OURS. They can’t have it. – Steven H. Wilson, Chair, Republican Central Committee of Howard County, MD. |
