On Thursday Tim Hannigan announced his run for Chairman of Fairfax County Republican Committee. He previously ran against Matt Ames, the current chairman of FCRC. Ames has not announced he will run again and it is assumed by many that he will not run. Tim Hannigan’s announcement:
Hannigan Announces Candidacy for FCRC Chairman
I am announcing my candidacy for Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee.
I am the Editor of the Fairfax Free Citizen, a 26-year Fairfax County resident, and a former career Marine officer and business executive.
Republicans in Fairfax County are currently reeling from electoral losses. Ed Gillespie, Republican candidate for Governor, just received only 31% of the Fairfax County vote. Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General received similar vote percentages, as did Chris Grisafe in the county School Board special election last August. President Trump won only 28% of the county vote in 2016. These recent election results were Republican disasters.
Over the past eight years, Republican voting results in Fairfax County have declined precipitously. In 2009, Bob McDonnell received 50% of the vote in the governor’s race. Ken Cuccinelli received 36% in 2013, and now Ed Gillespie reaches only 31%.
Only 51% of registered voters turned out to vote this year. That means there’s a large pool of registered voters who did not vote and are possible Republican voters. That pool is even larger for local Supervisor and School Board races, where the voter turnout hovers around only 30%.
More Democrats live in the county than a decade ago, and they now outnumber Republicans. But that is not the only reason for the precipitous decline in Republican voter percentages. The other reason is the Democrats are turning out a greater percentage of their base, in effect, outhustling the Republicans in voter turnout.
Improving Republican voter turnout is where the opportunity lies for the Fairfax County Republican Committee (FCRC). FCRC can, and should, take many steps to improve Republican election performance in the county. Not merely a reform here and a change there: FCRC needs a major transformation that addresses the changed reality of politics on the ground in Fairfax County.
- We need to restructure FCRC with a functional staff and recruit talented volunteers to fill staff positions.
- We need to recruit captains for all 244 precincts in the county and provide them the means to get out the Republican vote.
- We need to message aggressively about county issues, and deliver those messages across the full range of traditional and social media outlets.
- We need to kick up our fundraising.
- We need to procure an IT application that allows us to manage our own voter data year over year.
- We need to recruit quality candidates for all elective positions in Fairfax County, so ending free rides for Democrats.
- We need to reach out to all Republicans and groups across the county to identify common ground and solutions to their issues.
- And we need to implement professional management practices throughout FCRC, such as metrics-based performance measurement, a comprehensive FCRC website, and a volunteer management system.
I’ll be providing more details about my qualifications for FCRC Chairman and what the FCRC can and should do to drive up Republican turnout in Fairfax County and get Republicans back in the win column.
If you’re dissatisfied with the losing status quo and want a change in direction, then please consider signing up as a delegate to the FCRC convention to be held this winter and voting for me to be the new FCRC Chairman. Convention and sign-up details to follow.
