As required by state law, Jefferson County Republicans will hold its biennial organizational meeting on Dec. 14 at Church United in Port Hadlock. There the 23 elected precinct committee officers (PCO’s) will elect an executive committee to serve for the next two years.

Two elected state committee members (one female and one male) and the elected County Chairman will attend the State Republican organizational meeting on Jan. 31 to elect state officers.

In the last election, Republicans fielded three highly qualified candidates for the LD24 legislature, two of them being from Jefferson County. Their messaging regarding economic issues and public safety was well received. Each of these candidates carried Grays Harbor County and came close to breaking even in Clallam County.

They performed better than most other state and federal Republican candidates within Jefferson County, but our highly partisan demographics did not enable them to proceed to Olympia. Over the past four election cycles Democrats have consistently prevailed by a 40-point margin in Jefferson County.

It’s encouraging that younger voters nationwide are becoming more conservative. One of our primary goals in this next election cycle is to grow Republican support from younger voters in Jefferson County. Another objective is to communicate policy differences.

Our federalist system of government provides objective insights into what works and what doesn’t. 

Washington’s progressive approach can be compared to that of more conservative states. Will Washington continue to be a magnet for tech startups as it’s been in the past? Will our population continue to grow, or will it contract like California? Our education system has fallen from one of the best to one of the worst. What will Olympia do to improve it?

Democrats in Olympia are coping with a $12 billion budget shortfall due to declining tax receipts. This doesn’t include the impact of the amount required to pay for all the two-year collective bargaining agreements negotiated with state employee unions. Will they determine, as Gov. Christine Gregoire did in 2008, that it was not feasible to fund those contracts?

Energy policy in Washington is not founded on sound economic or environmental policy.  The recent defeat of I–2117 means that we’ll continue to pay $0.50 more per gallon for gas and diesel for no discernible environmental benefit. It also means that we’ll overtake California with the highest prices in the U.S.

Our quixotic quest for net zero puts our electric grid at risk. Europe was 5-10 years ahead of us in this effort and now, thanks to extremely high energy costs, manufacturing plants are shutting, and capital investment is going elsewhere. China pays lip service to the climate lobby but mostly uses low-cost reliable electricity from fossil fuels.

On many issues, Republicans are not unified. This includes: the degree of legal immigration; the benefits and drawbacks of tariffs; foreign policy; how to make Social Security and Medicare sustainable beyond the mid 2030’s (it will take bipartisan efforts as it did in the 1980’s). We debate these issues at our monthly meetings and at the quadrennial state convention. The results, in the form of our county and state platforms, are on our website at jeffgop.org.

David Morris is chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party.