The Gila County Republican Committee (GCRC) continues to make historic progress following this year’s General Election.
- Gila County had the second highest voter turnout of all counties with 77.63 percent (the highest on record for the County).
- Gila County also had a very high 63.9 percent of the vote to Trump against Clinton’s 31.5 percent.
For nearly 100 years, Gila County was a Democrat stronghold. In 2010, Republicans were 14 percent behind Democrats in voter registration in the county and Democrats held nearly all of the county’s 15 elected offices.
Today, Republicans are 26 percent ahead in voter registrations (a 40% swing) and the County is solidly red. In 2012, the first Republican sheriff since statehood was elected.
With the 2016 elections, Gila County experienced another historic event when Republicans defeated two incumbent Democrat members of the Gila County Board of Supervisors, and for the first time since statehood all three members of the Gila County Board of Supervisors are Republicans.
Additionally, Republicans now hold all but four of the 15 elected offices in the county.
And, in another major success for Gila County, Republican Frank Pratt defeated incumbent Democrat Barbara McGuire to make Arizona Legislative District 8 (south county) all Republican for the first time in recent memory.
For Legislative District 6, all three incumbent Republicans were re-elected. To achieve this success, the Gila County Republican Committee led a collaborative effort with the Rim Country Republican Club (Payson), the Cobre Valley Republican Club (Globe) and the Payson Tea Party, whose presidents participated in the GCRC executive board meetings so that we all had a common goal and didn’t waste time, money and effort duplicating our efforts.
Two Republican headquarters were opened – one in Payson and one in Globe. The Payson headquarters saw more than 3,000 visitors. Both headquarters also hosted numerous political events with candidates.
The GCRC conducts two major fund raising dinners each year – the Lincoln Day event in February and a Reagan Day dinner in August. Through these efforts the GCRC raised three times the money raised in 2014 to be used for this year’s candidate contributions. Every candidate who received a contribution won their election.
Thousands of door hangers with Republican candidates names listed were distributed and included in newspaper ads as “cut out” ads that could be taken to the voting booth.
The GCRC placed I-360 phone calls as well as direct phone calls for candidates. We also initiated several Saturday “Trump Wave Days” where members went to the main highways in Payson and Globe and waved Trump signs at passing cars.
The GCRC also purchased 20 weekly, half hour and one hour, radio shows with Payson KMOG Radio 1420 to allow candidates to market themselves and discuss Republican news and principles, both national and local. In addition, the GCRC purchased movie theater ad time as well as newspaper ad space.
Hard work paid off and yet we are doubling the effort this year. Hope to see you involved alongside our dedicated regulars!