Latest news with #RPK
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kentucky Republican Party names WKU grad as executive director ahead of 2026 elections
Zach Jordan is the executive director of the Republican Party of Kentucky. (Provided by Republican Party of Kentucky) Zach Jordan, a former Arizona deputy state director for President Donald Trump's campaign, has been named as the next executive director of the Republican Party of Kentucky ahead of 2026 elections. In a Tuesday press release, RPK said Jordan 'brings a background in grassroots leadership and organizational strategy to the role' with his experience in Arizona. In November, Trump won the state's 11 electoral votes over former Vice President Kamala Harris by winning the popular vote by more than five percentage points. Jordan takes over the Kentucky role from Adam Feldman, who was serving as interim executive director after Sarah Van Wallaghen's departure earlier this year. Jordan, who is an alumnus of Western Kentucky University, officially began as executive director on Tuesday. He will oversee daily party operations and assist with strategic planning and fundraising efforts ahead of the 2026 election cycle, when Kentucky will have elections for U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats as well as races in the state legislature. Robert J. Benvenuti III, RPK chairman, praised Jordan's work experience in a statement. 'He clearly possesses the intellect, skill and thoughtfulness required to successfully carry out this critical and difficult job,' Benvenuti said. 'Zach brings a unique blend of experience in grassroots operations, leadership, fundraising and data strategy. He has a wealth of knowledge and is ready to hit the ground running.' In Arizona, Jordan's duties included developing field operation plans and engaging local volunteers, stakeholders and surrogates to build momentum. Before that, Jordan was a vice president of Blair Group, a consulting firm that says it specializes in 'grassroots voter contact, activist and volunteer training, strategic communications and earned media campaigns.' 'It's a great honor to be named the next executive director of such a successful organization,' Jordan said in a statement. 'The Republican Party of Kentucky is considered the gold standard for state parties, both in success and dominance in state and federal elections. I look forward to helping build on that legacy. Kentucky Republicans have a bright future, and I'm proud to be a part of it.'
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Daviess County GOP holding reorganizational meeting
Daviess County Republicans will meet Saturday in the Fiscal Court meeting room at the Daviess County Courthouse to elect both precinct leadership and its executive committee. The meeting is part of the Republican Party of Kentucky's quadrennial reorganization. 'It falls on the year following a presidential election,' said Darin Tapp, chairman of the Daviess County Republicans. 'In that process, all across Kentucky, every precinct, county, district and all of the state Republican Party leadership positions are up for re-election. Basically, we have the opportunity to keep the leaders we want to keep, or replace them with new leadership, from the precinct level to county to district and all the way to the state level. And, all of this will transpire over the next few months, culminating in the (Republican Party of Kentucky) meeting where we vote on all new leadership for the state party. 'It's a pivotal, critical part of self-governance. It's where you really get the grassroots efforts involved and people's voices can be heard most directly to their representatives, especially at the precinct and county level.' This will be the first time Daviess County Republicans will participate in the reorganization in more than a decade, since the Daviess County Republicans had largely ceased to exist when Tapp became involved in the party in 2021. 'Me and a bunch of friends of mine were looking to get involved, and we could not find an established GOP,' Tapp said. 'We started looking in 2021. We did find some of the old leadership, but they had not kept up with their meetings and turning in minutes to the RPK, so there was no official party organization when we finally got ahold of some people that used to run it. We talked them into reforming the county GOP, along with my friends, and that's how we all got started back into this. 'We had meetings, we had votes, we voted in all new officers, and probably started out with 12 or 13 precinct captains, and we have since grown that many times over.' Anyone who was a registered Republican on Oct. 8, 2024, is qualified to be considered for a position and eligible to vote. The first vote will be for precinct leadership positions — captains, co-captains and youth chairmen. Candidates for youth chairmen must be 40 years old or younger. There are 57 precincts in Daviess County. Once precinct voting is completed, those elected for precinct leadership will then vote on the executive committee. Tapp said the current executive committee, which in addition to himself includes Andy Gamblin (vice chairman), Tonya Murphy (secretary), Jason Potts (treasurer) and Titus Willis (youth chairman), are being presented as a slate for re-election, and no other candidates have filed for the positions. 'The way the RPK rules read, they have to submit their name for consideration four days prior to the reorganization meeting to be considered (for an executive committee position)' Tapp said. 'I can tell you, nobody else has submitted their name to us. So, it will be an up or down vote on the slate of current leadership.' If the vote on the executive committee is to dissolve the current leadership, then people can be nominated for those positions. Each nominated candidate will have three minutes to speak about what they would bring to the position, then a vote would again be held among the precinct leadership for each executive committee position. Tapp said he feels confident the current executive committee will be re-elected. 'We didn't have any challengers submit their name to be considered,' he said. 'Unless there are some people who don't like the direction of the party and are going to show up and vote us down. But I really don't foresee that happening.' Doors for the meeting will open at 9:30 a.m., with sign-in/check-in starting at 9:45 a.m. and closing at 10:15 a.m., unless there are still people in line, which would extend the timeframe to process them in. The meeting will begin immediately after sign-in/check-in is complete, with Tapp expecting the meeting to last until 1 p.m. if the executive committee slate is re-elected or 2 p.m. if individual votes are required. 'This is a grassroots movement that is primarily comprised of what used to be low propensity voters and people that have left the Democratic Party, which we can see by people switching in the voter roles, and new Republican voters that were tired of the direction of the old Republican Party,' Tapp said. 'If people like what they're seeing with our new Republican Party, we highly encourage them to come, take action, have their voices heard and be a part of this new movement, because local action does equal national impact. We've proven that.'
