The District of Columbia Republican Party (DC GOP) is the District of Columbia affiliate of the

United States Republican Party The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by Abolitionism in the United Stat ...

. It was founded on June 19, 1855 and is made up of registered Republican voters living in Washington, D.C. elected to serve as the governing body of the Party. The party chairman is Jose Cunningham and the party is housed in the District of Columbia alongside the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

national headquarters. The party faces steep difficulties in getting its candidates elected, as Democrats hugely outnumber Republicans in the District of Columbia. No Republican has ever been elected mayor since

District of Columbia home rule District of Columbia home rule is Washington, D.C. residents' ability to govern their local affairs. As the federal capital, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever" ...

began in 1975. The DC Republicans have had no representation in the

D.C. Council The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...

since

Carol Schwartz Carol Schwartz (born January 20, 1944) is an American politician from Washington, D.C., who served as a Republican at-large member on the Council of the District of Columbia from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1997 to 2009. A five-time perennial ...

left office in 2009. As of January 7, 2019, there are 30,001 registered voters affiliated with the Republican Party of the District of Columbia.Voter Registration Statistics
''District of Columbia Board of Elections''. April 2018. That is 6.15% of all registered voters.

Leadership and organization

The District of Columbia Republican Party is chaired by Patrick Mara. The DC Republican National Committeeman is Robert J. Kabel and the DC Republican National Committeewoman is Jill Homan. The party is currently conducting a search for a new executive director. Members of the DC GOP elect its chairman every two years. The Republican National Committeeman and Committeewoman are elected at the same time as the DC Republican presidential primary every four years, which is open to all Republican voters. The chairman appoints executive committee members with the approval of the DC GOP. Election to the DC GOP requires nomination by an existing DC GOP member and confirmation by the DC GOP Membership Recruitment Committee.

Electoral strategy

According to the

District of Columbia Home Rule Act The District of Columbia Home Rule Act is a United States federal law passed on December 24, 1973, which devolved certain congressional powers of the District of Columbia to local government, furthering District of Columbia home rule. In par ...

(D.C. Code 1-221(d)(2)), "at no time shall there be more than three members (including the Chairman) serving at large on the Council who are affiliated with the same political party." This gives the DC Republicans their largest opportunity, and their main efforts are usually directed at this race. Rather than defeat the Democrats, a Republican candidate for an at-large seat need only defeat any independents, Libertarians, and DC Statehood Green Party candidates in the race.

Recent history

The most successful and high-profile Republican in elected office of recent years is former

councilwoman A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

(at-large). First elected in 1984, she served one term before deciding not to seek re-election in 1988. Voters returned her to the at-large seat in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

. She was re-elected in 2000 and 2004, but lost the Republican primary election in 2008. Schwartz ran for

mayor of the District of Columbia The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...

as a Republican four times (1986, 1994, 1998 and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

), all unsuccessfully. In 2008,

Patrick Mara Patrick Mara is a former elected member of the District of Columbia Board of Education. Early years Mara is originally from Rhode Island. He earned a Bachelor of Science in political science and environmental science at Marist College. While a ...

defeated Schwartz for the Republican nomination. Mara was backed by an endorsement from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''s editorial board and anger from the business community at Schwartz's support of a mandatory sick-leave bill. Schwartz continued to run as a

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

, and both received approximately 10% of the vote. This was not enough to stop

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Michael A. Brown, formerly a Democrat, from receiving the largest vote share of the non-Democrats up for election, leaving the Council with no Republican members since 2009. The D.C. Republican Party sued the D.C. electoral board, arguing that, even though Brown officially registered as an independent in May 2008, he practically campaigned as a Democratic candidate. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals found that the D.C. electoral board and Ethics correctly considered Brown to be an independent during the election and that the Board should not investigate the day-to-day associations of a particular candidate to determine whether their party registration or lack thereof is genuine. Allegations raised by Tim Day, former Ward 5 DC Council candidate, and Paul Craney, former executive director, helped initiate an investigation into Councilmember Harry Thomas, who defeated Day in a 2010 race. Thomas resigned in January 2012. Thomas agreed to 2 federal felony charges and was sentenced to 38 months in prison. As of 2022, there are nine council members affiliated with the Democratic Party and two council members not affiliated with any political party.

Mayoral election results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:District Of Columbia Republican Party Political parties established in 1855 1855 establishments in Washington, D.C. Republican Party (United States) by state Political parties in the District of Columbia