Jennifer Nassour Elected to 2nd Term as Massachusetts State GOP Chair, image MassGOP
On Thursday evening, at the Mariott in Newton MA, the Massachusetts GOP State Committee members gathered to vote by secret ballot for the office of Chairman. Jennifer Nassour, the current Chair won by a vote of 50 to 16 over Worcester’s, Bill McCarthy, considered the more conservative candidate. McCarthy had challenged Nassour for the Chair citing lack of performance in the last election based on the 2010 mid-term returns. The Mass. GOP picked up seats in the Legislature, doubling its membership in the State Legislature and held all seats for incumbents; there were over 200 candidates for state and federal offices, which was the first time in decades that voters had a choice at the ballot box. However, many, including McCarthy, felt that the loss of the top of the slate of 2010 contenders, from the Governor’s office to all 10 Congressional Seats, should have had a better showing.
Rome is not built in a day.
Although there are extreme differences between members in the Republican Party in Massachusetts, from moderates to Conservatives, the growing Tea Party is playing a large role in supporting candidates from a grass roots level, while the State GOP members, for the most part are often referred to as a “county-club”, or RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only), appearing to support candidates that are more “moderate” in nature, and therefore, logically more “electable” in a state where over 50% of the electorate is registered as “unenrolled”. There are also geographic distinctions between those East and West of Worcester, with the more Conservative activist hailing from the Western Part of the State, with pockets of Conservatives in the South Coast. Members of the Tea Party are also played a part in the past elections, beginning with the January 19th election of Republican Senator Scott Brown. Tea Party members most often align themselves with the Republican Party based on a shared ideology of fiscal conservatism, and there is a crossover in Massachusetts. Additionally, there is RHIO’s in the “types” of Conservatives in Massachusetts, both moderates (Nassour) and remained in the hands of the Democrats.
The fact that Ms. Nassour came to the office of the Chair two years prior to the mid-terms, with only 7 state senators and 15 state legislatures in office, to oversee a mid-terms where the number of Massachusetts GOP state legislatures doubled, a gain that had not happened in 20 years – goes to competency. (Boston Globe).
In reality, a moderately conservative estimate would suggest it may take at least 10 years for a competent Chair to bring the Massachusetts GOP up to snuff, or, should the Tea Party be embraced, as well as the Western Massachusetts Republican members, the next election cycle may cut that estimate substation ally. With now 9 Congressional seats up for election (Massachusetts lost a seat in the U.S. House due to fleeing population.) as well as one Senate seat (Scott Brown), and the office of the President of the U.S., with varied state posts up for election, one can imagine Ms. Nassour will have her hands full and it remains to be seen if she will be able to come to terms with those whose ideology is further right, commonly thought to be an anomaly in Massachusetts.
In a Press Release issues by the Mass GOP, Ms. Nassour thanked the committee for the vote of confidence and reiterated her accomplishments in her short-two year tenure: “"I am honored the Massachusetts Republican State Committee has expressed its strong support for the progress we have made in my first two years as chairman and for my continued leadership as we endeavor to further rebuild and strengthen this Grand Ole Party," Nassour said.
"For the first time in a long time, our party entered the November elections with a strong slate of candidates, and when all was said and done, we elected 25 new Republicans and defeated 12 Democratic incumbents. We turn our focus now to helping Senator Brown defend the People's Seat and restoring greater two-party balance to Beacon Hill," she said.”
Ms. Nassour also has a very aggressive agenda for the next two years including:
Recruiting and re-electing Republican incumbents for state and congressional districts,
Fundraising,
A “Get out the Vote Program”, (which would require the cooperation of the individual city and town committees)
Grassroots organization,
Increased cooperation between Republican campaigns,
Increased voter registration,
and lastly, updating the current technology in place, allowing greater efficiency for both the GOP and their candidates.
The aforementioned is a daunting tax, but it is good to set the bar high, considering the following facts regarding the 2010 midterms:
Nine out of ten incumbent Congressional Democrats were challenged, not by well-known politico’s, rather first time candidates, who lost by what would be considered very narrow margins, specifically in the 4th, 10th, and 2nd Congressional Districts. (There were no GOP poll watchers in place or organization which would allow them to counter the Democrats, who will watch the polls, pick up missing voters and get them in to vote. (That will change in 2011.) The Governor’s office was also won by a narrow margin, with the inclusion of a “straw” candidate, Tim Cahill, Democrat turned independent, and who is still working in the Patrick Administration. Even with the third option, the Republican, Charlie Baker, lost by 2 points – not exactly a mandate for the embattled Governor, Deval Patrick.
Therefore, in retrospect, Ms. Nassour, survived what might be viewed by some Conservatives as “Custer’s Last Stand” and walked away with seats at the State level, no mean feat. Granted, one must credit those Conservatives along with the Tea Party and Ms. Nassour in the aforementioned.
Should Ms. Nassour come to terms with and encourage the corporations of the Conservative Republicans as well as the Tea Party members, she just may pull off a miracle in 2011-2012. It is convincing hard-liners that Michael Steele’s “big tent” philosophy is worth embracing, which may be successful, especially with the diversity in the Tea Party.
Not for nothing, but Ms. Nassour, as a strong woman, managed to do what her male predecessors had not accomplished in 20 years. There isn’t an organization standing where members will not play “Monday morning quarterback”. Therefore, kudos to Ms. Nassour on her reelection to the Chair, and the hope that next round of elections in 2011 and 2012 brings the Republican Party in Massachusetts additional gains, including a Federal seat or two. That would be icing on the cake.
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