The Summit County Republican Party has elected a new chair. Jennifer McDonald says she wants to get the base excited—and even wants to get Republicans involved in the 2019 local city races, which are non-partisan.
McDonald has been in the Park City area for about 25 years, and currently lives in the Ranch Place neighborhood.
She said she’s working to get Republican candidates to throw their hats in the ring. It’s hard to get people to step up but they’re talking to some possible contenders.
She said it would be nice to get some party members vying for the non-partisan Park City council races, where three seats are on the ballot.
“We would like to get somebody on there, sure. Absolutely,” McDonald said. When asked about other municipalities in the county such as Coalville and Kamas McDonald replied, “We’ve got people looking into those too.”
The State Republican Party held its convention earlier in May and elected new leadership.
“Derek Brown is the new state chair,” McDonald explained. “He was the deputy chief of staff for Mike Lee, he’s a great senator. Then Aaron Starks is the new vice chair, I don’t know much about him to be honest. We’re excited to have new people at the state level, get this party excited.”
We asked her what’s in store for the party, given the much-reported disputes between Republicans who favor the convention/caucus system, and those who want to allow a signature-gathering option to get on the ballot.
“I think that the new chair and vice-chair are going to try to settle that animosity and just get the party rallied again.” McDonald said.
