In Washington County, Tennessee, a crucial election for the position of Republican State Committeewoman is underway. This role represents the local Republican Party in Nashville, where key discussions on the GOP’s values, policies, and bylaws take place.
Within the district encompassing Carter, Johnson, and Washington counties, two hopefuls are vying for the committeewoman slot to represent the district three Republican party.
Among the candidates is Anita Hodges-Taylor, who is seeking to secure her third term. Her track record includes participation in the GOP bylaws committee and handling challenges related to elections.
“On several occasions, I’ve had to manage such challenges,” Hodges-Taylor mentioned. “Ultimately, the decision to uphold an election falls to a vote by the state committee. This can prove difficult, particularly when minor vote differences lead candidates to request a reelection. It’s up to the state committee to determine if that’s permitted.”
Hodges-Taylor asserts that her extensive background positions her as a reliable choice for this role.
“It takes a period of time to really learn the process of what all the workings are that go into this position,” she said. “It changes so often because every four years there are new people that are elected across the state, and one person might want something this term and another person another term. The bylaws have changed so many times, it gets confusing for people. I feel like I have the knowledge and understanding of our bylaws now, and I can make a difference.”
Her challenger, Stephanie Radford, is running for the first time as a lifelong Republican.
In the past, Radford established Teenage Republican groups to encourage the younger generation to connect with grassroots and Republican values.
She’s running in order to bring those grassroots values back to the party.
“The grassroots are our older Republicans and our kids, the young Republicans,” said Radford. “We need to educate the young Republicans. We need to help our older ones understand and be present. Bring back town halls. I think they would come to that.”
A big issue the Republican Party faced this election cycle was the bona fide requirement, requiring prospective Republican candidates to have voted in three of the four most recent state primary races.
Hodges-Taylor said a potential change she’d like to see to the rule is to include local primary elections to give younger people the chance to run for office.
“A lot of young people did not get to run because they didn’t have that three out of four statewide primary votes,” she said. “However, they are wanting to be every active and some of them actually picked up papers to run as independents. We want to try to bring that together and have a consensus across the state that we are a strong party.”
Radford said the rules are in place to ensure all candidates running as Republicans are true Republicans.
“This primary, a lot of people did not get to run where they wanted to run because of the bona fide rule,” she said. “The bona fide does well as far as make sure they’re Republicans, and that’s what the executive committee does. They want to make sure we got viable people running for office.”
Radford is also advocating for town halls where members of the Republican Party can come together to share their values and opinions about the party’s direction.
“Bring the Republican parties together and start some of these school town halls,” she said. “Educate our teenagers, start a teenage Republicans. Make sure we have our young Republicans. That’s my biggest goals is to bring us all back together to the grassroots.”
Hodges-Taylor said that, through her experience, she wants to give opportunities to the younger generation as the party evolves.
“Sometimes the grassroots people, they get set in their ways and they don’t want to change, and it takes our young people,” she said. “They’re the lifeblood of our party, and we welcome our young people. I love young people. I’ve worked with young people in our church, and I love their enthusiasm. We’ve had many young people come and visit with us in our party.”