Matt Borges was elected chairman of the Ohio Republican Party this morning as expected, beating back a direct tea party challenge rooted far more in disagreements over policy than in Borges’ personal tax issue.
Those present among the state GOP’s 66-member executive committee elected Borges over businessman and Portage County Tea Party president Tom Zawistowski 48-7 in a meeting at the Westin downtown. Borges, who’s been serving as the party’s executive director, succeeds chairman Robert T. Bennett when he retires May 31.
Borges, 40, was endorsed by all statewide elected Republicans and U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, and was seen as Gov. John Kasich’s hand-picked choice for Bennett. Given that Kasich’s political team helped many on the central committee win their seats, Borges’ victory was never really in doubt.
But what happens next is an issue. During his speech and again as soon as he lost, Zawistowski discussed the possibilities of an insurrection by conservative, tea-party affiliates from the party – which if true could devastate Kasich and the GOP ticket’s chances in 2014.
___
“I think there’s a chance it could come to that,” Zawistowski said afterward. “Three years ago when we would talk third party, people would say oh, that’s crazy, you can’t split the ticket, you can’t do that. But they’re just so fed up now that they’re really, seriously, considering it. And I mean it, it’s a serious threat. We don’t think that’s the way to go, but we have people who are not satisfied with the results they get from the people they elect.”
No comments:
Post a Comment