Dear OCREC Members and Friends:
Politics is a game of wins and losses. Sometimes you get pounded hard, but every now and then you get to experience a night where just about everything goes right.
Thanks at least in part to your hard work, this is one of those nights. Not only did the GOP capture the U.S. Senate, and add significantly to the margin in the House, but we also won the state of Florida for Rick Scott.
Just as importantly, we accomplished nearly every single Election 2014 local priority we set together for OCREC:
– Our top priority was to help win the state for Rick Scott. We knew we couldn’t actually WIN the county outright when trailing by 98,000 registered voters, but we had to keep it reasonably close and we did that, doing far better than Pinellas County and Palm Beach County, which are both in our general league of size or registration.
– Our second priority was to keep the Orange County Commission 6-1 in Republican hands. With Bryan Nelson’s thumping win in Dist 2 – assisted by OCREC $ and volunteer efforts (per your vote) – we did that, too.
– Our third priority was to defeat the pernicious, Democrat bought-and-paid-for County Charter Amendment C. We spent a huge amount of time, money and effort on that question and defeated it soundly, keeping the county commission safe for Republicans, and defeating the White House, Alan Grayson money, giant unions, Scott Randolph and – once again – a notorious traitorous political prostitute (who is not worth mentioning) in the process.
– Our fourth, fifth and sixth priorities were to snatch 3 state house seats back from the democrats in Districts 30, 47 and 49 and we got all 3!!! Bob Cortes and Mike Miller won their races in Districts 30 and 47 against very well-financed, well-regarded incumbents, but the real shocker – and a tremendous blow to the Democrats – was Rene Plasencia’s near-miraculous 2-point win in overwhelmingly Democrat State House District 49. The Democrats will be in shock for weeks on that one. And all of you helped make this happen by walking precincts for all 3 of those candidates.
– Priorities 7, 8 and 9 were to amend the Charter to (a) prevent last-minute, so-called “citizen initiatives”, (b) ban citizen initiative mandates on employers and (c) make constitutional officers non-partisan, with term limits. These positions were featured on all our mailers and palm cards, and WE WON ALL THREE questions!!! Go Us!
– Our last and final priority was to re-elect Eddie Fernandez Clerk of Courts. Although Eddie ran a truly terrific race, and we featured him on all our mailers and slate cards, he – and we – were unable to overcome a really massive Democrat registration advantage. However, all is not lost. Because we succeeded in passing Charter Amendment Question D (see above), Eddie can run again for this position in a NON-PARTISAN primary in 2016 and potentially win it in the first round when Republicans will dominate voting.
So there you have it – the first 9 out of 10 local goals achieved, Florida even more Republican than before, and great news at the national level!!! You could live a long time and not have another political night this satisfying.
None of this would have been possible without your hard work AND your votes to allow this committee to spend money and resources where they needed to be spent. THANK YOU. And thank yourselves. Time for the proverbial pat on the back!
And finally, be sure to thank and congratulate all those candidates who worked their shoe leather off winning these races. Their sacrifices make our community, state and nation better.
I look forward to seeing you all at our Thursday, December 11 elections meeting and Christmas party at 6:30 PM at Marks Street. This year we have some extra special things to celebrate. I wonder how Santa gets a state house district under a tree…?
Lew Oliver
OCREC
Orange County Republican Executive Committee
