A Note From the Chairman: 2023 Convention Comments
Welcome and thank you for attending and participating.
The 2024 Campaign will be difficult in SC and Beaufort County. Presidential Candidates will NOT spend any money in SC– RED State. NO Statewide candidate is on the ballot to help fund the State Victory Campaign. All races will be local, and money will be tight.
BCRP's bi-annual fundraiser will be on Friday, October 27th in Bluffton. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is our special guest.
The 2024 Presidential Primary will be active and competitive for 1 or 2 candidates.
DEC/JAN/FEB will be very active for Republican Presidential Primary Candidates.
February will be the most active as SC is the First in the South Primary.
North:
The first thing that comes to mind is Edie Rodgers and Edna Horne, two great ladies.
26 org precincts and 10 unorganized– this is an improvement from 2021.
We need to do better… How?
Work closely with Men’s and Women’s groups.
We have great relationships and will build off this. The November 22 Rally for the Governor is something to build on. Beaufort had over 250 people show up!
We need to drive turnout at the Precinct Level…
Precinct Leaders need to OWN Turnout…
Regional Directors need to OWN Precincts
North Call Outs
Elected Officials: Kevin Phillips, David Bartholomew, and Josh Scalatte are all young but we need a few ladies to join this group.
Scott Anderson is the Regional Director and is keeping things moving forward.
Scott has a great team around him– Mike Swiecicki, Geri Hampton, Jeff and Liz Johnson, Larry Haskel, and the very special Cherri Cahoon.
North Rising Stars– Maddie Mansell, Jorge Guerrero, and Michael Andersen. Willie Turral has accomplished a good deal since 2020 with the Young Republicans, Help Grow the GOP, and as a candidate. We expect to see Willie campaigning soon.
Central Region:
26 Organized and 6 Not Org– Linda Cannon is Regional Director.
Linda has a great team with Sherri Zedd, Phil Perine, Ed Stevenson, and Joe DeChristafaro.
We need to do more in Bluffton– new areas such as New Riverside and 170 corridor. There is a lot to do here, and we finally have some new people involved, such as Laura Wood.
Sun City is BACK… After a disastrous turnout in the 2018 General Election, they have turned it around and 7 of 8 precincts overperformed in 2022.
How? Precinct Leaders – Education – DATA – working closely with the Sun City Club, and Mary Mollison doing a great job there. Joint membership started here, a big success for both.
The new area is voting very RED as folks moving here are conservative. We need to get them involved in the Party.
We finally have active precincts in Belfair, Berkeley Hall, Rose Hill, Hampton Hall and Lake, Lawton Station, and Oldfield. Moss Creek is great and has been well-organized for a while now.
Shout Outs: Cheryl Arnold and Carolyn Barta, Barbara and Dennis Nielsen, Elaine and Greg all from Moss Creek – Blythe Merrifield from Berkeley – Karen Coggins and Maryann Jones from Hampton Hall – Don Lippucci and Sue Carnell from Lawton Station; these and many more are helping us grow.
Sun City Callouts – Diane Moreno SC#1, Tom and Helen Delaney SC#3, Elaine French SC#6. All Sun City Precincts are organized and growing. 2 New EC’s in Sun City. Don Cooper did great with Chechessee 2, Oldfield, and Riverbend.
South Region – Hilton Head – 24 Org, 3 Not – Lynn Fontaine Regional Director
Most improved Region in the past 30 months- Highest percentage organized.
FYI, in 2020, Hilton Head 2C Indigo Run had the highest turnout but was not organized! Now organized with close to 100 precinct members and the highest precinct reorg turnout! Thanks to Xiaodan, Matt, Sherri, Abby Petkov, Frank Lipari, and Jim Leveque, to name a few.
The improvement started with our dear friend, Marty Baumgarner. Marty replaced Tom Hatfield as Regional Director and started things on HHI. Unfortunately, Marty left us and we miss him dearly, he was funny, passionate, caring, and smart. RIP Marty.
Jonathan Wilson followed and believed in organizing precincts, but Lynn Fontaine MADE it happen. Lynn OWNS the Precincts on Hilton Head– Lynn is a Rock Star
Lynn is not alone and she would kill me if I did not recognize the great team she has put together. Lisa Laking, Susan G, Susan W, Sherri Mikrut, and more.
These 4 Ladies on HH ran Precinct ReOrg. I know many others helped, but these ladies owned it; very well-organized and professional.
My most memorable Precinct story is HH 4B and my favorite EC, Pat Jankowski has the Cypress Community rocking! Pat filled all 11 delegate spots, and they are all here today including our oldest delegate— Evelyn Phillips, 96 years young.
Evelyn sent in a BCRP membership form with $30 cash stapled to the form. Think of Evelyn the next time someone tells you they are not voting. If Evelyn can attend a convention at 96, everyone can at least vote.
Last but not least on Hilton Head are my dear friends Matt and Xiaodan. They have worked non-stop since the summer of 2020 to elect conservatives. They worked with Tom Hatfield, Marty, Jonathan, Lynn, Sherri Mikrut, and many others. We are lucky and proud to have Xiaodan as our State EC and a leader in the BCRP.
In closing, I want to thank everyone for participating in ReOrg and Convention, you made this Beaufort County’s most successful ReOrg ever. 575 total participants, 392 delegates, and 50 alternates– over a 200% increase from 2021.
Please join me in a round of applause for Sherri Zedd. Sherri has worked tirelessly the past few months organizing this convention— she planned and ran it. Thanks, Sherri… and better yet, she got Chuck to come to the ReOrg meeting!!!
A special shout-out to Maria Walls, Kayle Stevenson, and Mary Vaux for all the work on our website, social media, and communications. Great Job.
A final thank you to our Special Guests: Edie, Edna, Barbara and Dennis, Curtis Loftis, Tom Davis, Shannon Erickson, Bill Herbkersman, Joe Passimant, PJ Tanner, Maria Walls, David Cadd, David Bartholomew, Tab Tabernik, Kevin Phillips, Josh Scallate, and Tammy Becker.
Go home, rest up, and get ready for 2024. Thank You!
Happy Passover & Happy Easter. Happy Summer 23!
