Posted on 09/21/2023 6:22:15 AM PDT by cotton1706
In a reaffirmation of its shift to the right, the Lancaster County Republican Party voted Tuesday night to return a populist and fervent supporter of Donald Trump, Matt Innis, to the post of chairman.
Party delegates also passed resolutions condemning the indictments faced by Trump and supporting the impeachment of President Joe Biden — reportedly the first passage of such statements by a county GOP party in Nebraska.
Innis, who served as the county’s chairman from 2011-15, claimed 163 votes from the 246 delegates who voted during the county’s fall convention at the Hickman Community Center.
He far outdistanced Kris Beckenbach, who had support from the more establishment wing of the state GOP represented by former Gov. and now U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, and Amber Parker, a party activist who promised unity within the party and an insistence on opposition to abortion rights.
Some speakers voiced discontent that Lancaster County has seen a blue shift in its elected offices in recent years.
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, a Democrat, recently won a resounding re-election bid over Republican State Sen. Suzanne Geist, and both the Lincoln City Council and Lancaster County Board enjoy Democratic majorities in a decidedly red state.
Innis, in his campaign speech, said he was able to “flip” the Lincoln City Council from blue to red during his previous term as GOP chairman in the state’s second-largest county.
“We put together a plan and we put together good candidates,” said Innis, an outspoken supporter of Trump. “We need candidates who are not abrasive, but are resolute.”
Innis, who unsuccessfully challenged then-U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse for the GOP nomination in 2020 and helped dump Ricketts’ loyalists as state GOP leaders a year ago, called for hand counting of ballots in Nebraska elections and “live view” video of vote counting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nebraskaexaminer.com ...
We need to take those colors back. We’re not Red Communists.
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