Can South Snohomish County Republicans make a comeback? If so, what will it take?
Those were among the questions raised during a crowded, 90-minute meeting over pizza and beer of 21st Legislative District Republican Party officials, elected representatives and their supporters at The Rock restaurant in Lynnwood on Jan. 11.
Stan Lake of Mountlake Terrace organized the meeting and moderated a forum in which Republican leaders, such as longtime Party organizer Jerry Miller, Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart, former State Rep. Renee Radcliff and Snohomish County Councilman Gary Nelson, offered advice.
Lake got things rolling, asking “how do you build a party that leads to a Republican in office?”
“A lot of people who are independent and would vote Republican are saying ‘why,’” said Bart, who’s running for county executive against incumbent Aaron Reardon.
Nelson, of Edmonds, who is serving in his final term on the county council because of term limits, said Republicans should “take lessons from the past” as they consider future efforts.
Many Republicans have “kind of gone back into the woodwork,” he said, and it’s up to Republican leaders now to “get them more involved.”
Republicans have to do a better of job of communicating those ideals and that philosophy, panelists agreed. That would include doing a better job of organizing the district’s precincts and motivating Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs), who lead door-to-door campaign efforts.
“We need to recruit PCOs and make sure we have as many of the precincts covered as possible,” Nelson said.
Former 21st District State Rep. Renee Radcliff Sinclair, who will challenge Democrat and former state Rep. Mike Cooper for Nelson’s county seat, said local Republicans must get busy raising money and should restart a defunct Political Action Committee to help do that. Additionally, she said, Republicans have to invite interested people to breakfasts, to meetings.
“We all need to get out there right now, talking to our neighbors, finding out what they care about,” she said.
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