In Defense of the Lynchburg Republican Committee

This past Saturday, members of the Republican Party of Virginia met with the Lynchburg Republican Committee to try and put an end to nearly 2 years of in-fighting.  The expressed purpose of this meeting was called by Membership to potentially censure the Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed and Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi.

The following members of RPV attended the Lynchburg City GOP Meeting:  RPV Chair Rich Anderson, RPV Vice Chair Kristi Way, RPV Western Regional Vice Chairwoman Nancy Dye, RPV Western Vice Chairman (and Delegate) Eric Phillips, RPV Executive Director Ken Nunnenkamp, 5^th Congressional District GOP Committee Chair Rick Buchanan, and yours truly, 6^th Congressional District GOP Committee Chair John Massoud.

The Lynchburg GOP Committee, ably led by Unit Chair Veronica Bratton, has taken several lumps on the chin statewide.  There are a lot of issues that are currently happening in Lynchburg right now, and it would take too long for me to give a fair venting of what has happened there over the past 2 years. However a few things need to be said about the great work that Team GOP in Lynchburg did this past election cycle.  

This past election cycle, Lynchburg got for Donald Trump 19,574 votes.  In the last presidential election cycle, Lynchburg GOP got for Trump 17,097 votes.  This is a 14.5% increase in GOP turnout over the past 4 years.  

For the US Senate race, in 2024 the Lynchburg GOP got for Hung Cao 19,478 votes.  In 2020 the Lynchburg GOP got for the US Senate nominee (Daniel Gade) 17,208 votes.  Aka a 13.2% increase in GOP turnout.  Remember that Donald Trump lost Virginia by approximately 5%, and Hung Cao lost Virginia by nearly 10%.  If every Republican Unit in Virginia performed as well as did Lynchburg did this past election cycle, not only would Trump have won Virginia, but Hung Cao would have likely narrowly defeated Tim Kaine.  

Not to mention they also increased their majority on the City Council to 6 Republicans and 1 Democrat.  How many city GOP Units can boast what Lynchburg can boast?

Are there a lot of problems in Lynchburg Republican politics?  Yes.  Can these be solved in a few days?  Honestly no they cannot.  A lot more work needs to be done.   However thanks to the hard work of Chairman Rich Anderson and everyone else listed above, I am cautiously optimistic that we have turned the corner and that brighter days will come to Lynchburg in the years to come.