The Washoe GOP elected 633 out of 638 possible delegates to the state convention in Reno this May. The organization also revised its platform at the county convention on Saturday, but questions remain about how the local party will move forward once its four elected officials resign in just a few weeks. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Billman reports.
Last month, the chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer of the Washoe Republicans announced they’ll all be stepping down from their posts soon after the county convention. Chairman Adam Khan says deep divisions are to blame.
“There’s definitely some animosity in the party, but we need to make sure that going forward into this election year and going further into this delegation process, we need to maintain civility, proper decorum. We can’t be throwing people out of the party that we don’t like.
Khan has served as chair for about a year and is now shifting gears to run for Sparks City Council. He says the infighting in Washoe reflects a much larger problem.
“This is not an issue just here; this is a nationwide divide," Khan explains. "We’ve been seeing this for the last decade. Republicans eat their own, and sometimes it affects us in the election. I hope that’s not the issue here. I hope that we can all coalesce behind our candidates.”
“You know, how do we present to the community that we’re a unified party that can be taken seriously and then we have things like this?" asks Don Dike-Anukam, a state delegate supporting Ted Cruz. "I mean, it’s demoralizing.”
Along with electing such delegates for the upcoming state convention, the party also revisited its platform, including its stance on marriage, stating that it should only be between one man and one woman. The change garnered enough support for approval, but some, like Chairman Khan, worry that such a socially conservative stance could shut out a crop of young voters.
Dike-Anukam, the delegate, is also concerned that Donald Trump’s racially-charged rhetoric could disenfranchise voters that the party needs.
“When you’re opening statement is, ‘Some Mexicans are criminals, rapists,’ you know, I’m an African-American male. When you say phrases like that, I tend to read between the lines; it offends me," Dike-Anukam says. "And you can’t help but wonder, ‘If I’m thinking that, what is someone who is a first-generation Mexican, El Salvadorian, Guatemalan thinking who might be a swing voter?”
Unlike the Washoe Democrats, the Republicans don’t ask their state delegates who they’re supporting, so the exact break down is unclear. But Trump took a huge lead in the recent state caucuses and support for him continued to swell at Saturday's convention.
Delegate and Veteran Jerry Kirk says Trump’s the only candidate for the job:
“If you run the businesses he’s had in his lifetime, you don’t think he could find the right people to do the job in Washington? He’s telling it like it is and even though sometimes Trump puts his foot in his mouth, we don’t care."
Kirk and more than 600 delegates head now to the state convention. On the local level, even though it seems like a chaotic chapter for the county party, caucus turnout was up and more than 1,200 people came out for Saturday’s convention. In just a few weeks, the organization will welcome a new team of leaders who will be charged with trying to keep that momentum going.
