Letter to State Central Committee
Dear State Central Committee members:
I only had some of your emails, so I was not able to write the whole SCC.
As you meet tomorrow at the Advance, I think you all need to have a serious, serious discussion on the structure of the SCC and even what the RPV and the House and Senate caucuses and local units and districts are doing wrong given the drubbing we got at the hand of the Democrats.
Sorry, but blaming this on Trump hatred and “we’ll come back” is not going to work. Republicans were losing statewide BEFORE Trump arrived on the scene, and the party leaders ignored my pleas for better outreach to non-white voting groups.
I grew up in New Jersey and lived in Maryland before moving to Virginia in 2002 and the GOP in these now very Blue states are incapable of winning major elections — and with the Democrats consolidating their power by giving favored treatment to unions (potentially getting rid of right to wok and the Dillon Rule), they have the potential to have their clutches on all of us.
I come to you as a concerned Virginia Republican and former office holder, and I have been very active in helping recruit and mentor candidates.
Sorry, but many of YOU are part of the problem because you look too narrowly at what the RPV and SCC should do.
Consultants should not have any leadership role on the SCC. I was a candidate for State Senate in Fairfax County in 2023 and saw how the consultants for the Spirit PAC and House and Senate caucuses — like with sears this year — walked away with gobs of money, while the rest of us went down the drain — and with that, gov. Youngkin’s agenda.
I wish the SCC would NOT pick a replacement for Mark Peake by a decision among the 79 of you. Indeed the Party plan states:
SECTION C. Vacancies 1. A vacancy in the office of State Chairman shall be filled by the State Central Committee until the next regular State Convention, which shall then elect a State Chairman to fill the remaining unexpired portion of the term of the vacating State Chairman.
I don’t think this precludes you at this meeting or in January to amend the plan to allow for a vote by rank-and-file Republicans, who can pay a $35 fee to vote. You can do a firehouse primary or see if there is a means to have secure online voting. A broad vote will generate more emails and people to get engaged with the GOP. I don’t think not having a chair until March is going to hurt anybody.
I recognize this is much more difficult for the candidates for RPV chairman, and I am sure lots of you LOVE getting buttonholed for ego purposes. Read my critique here: https://www.baconsrebellion.com/scott-pios-95-theses/
But if you really love Virginia and want it to have a future as a two -party state, do not get into the rut of just doing the same old thing over and over again.
Please put aside your egos and be willing to do what is best for All of Virginia, not just the Red areas.
Throw the vote for chairman to the Republican rank and file instead of making this a closed-doors decision by 79 people, many of who were not even elected to their positions because they were appointed by YOU all.
We will never win a statewide election again unless a very wealth guy like Glenn Youngkin comes along again as long as the RPV sticks with an aged party plan, refuses to add representation from black, Latino, Muslim, Hindu/Sikh, Jews, gays and other GOP groups, and allows political consultants to rule and ignoring the many elected office holders out there — including on the municipal and county level — and acts like this is an exclusive clique, you only have yourselves to blame for continued defeat
It’s time to end the Good old Boys and Girls network and put PERFORMANCE ahead of Self PROFIT and PERSONALITY.
All too many of you vote for people like Mark Peake who was a nice man, but had state senate duties, without even thinking what he could or could not do to finish Rich Anderson’s term.
I welcome your feedback. Good luck at the Advance and make it into more than just a networking hob knobbing event, like the musicians playing for the passengers jumping off the Titanic in the movie.
Thank you!
Hon. Kenneth Reid
Former Leesburg Town Councilmember and Loudoun County Supervisor, 2006 to 2017
Member, Loudoun County Republican Committee, 2003 to 2017; and since 2023Author, The Six Secrets to Winning Any Local Election & Navigating Elected Office Once You Win, www.KenReid.org
