OPINION:
As chairman of the Republican Party of Guam, I am eager to express my unconditional support for Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s reelection at our upcoming winter meeting. Chairwoman McDaniel is the best RNC chair I have had the pleasure of working for, and that is why I am asking my fellow members of the 168 to join me in support of her reelection.
For over 25 years, I have been engaged in national Republican politics, in addition to being an active member of the Guam Republican Party. I have served in leadership roles at the national and local levels, working my way up the party through the grassroots, similar to the chairwoman.
At the national level, I have co-founded the Young Hispanic Republican Association (YHRA) and became an officer of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly (RNHA) of Virginia. I’ve also been proud to serve as vice chairman of Fairfax County, Virginia. Most recently, in Guam, I have served as executive director, national committeeman and now its chairman.
Throughout my political carrier, a large part of my work and success has been focused on expanding Republican outreach to the minority groups that are part of the communities I have served. We built these coalitions not on pandering but instead on our shared conservative values. These values include that governments and government employees are servants of the people, not their rulers or dictators; that elected officials should prioritize maintaining a pro-business economy instead of stifling it; that a strong national defense protects our democracy from those that want to harm it; and that the Christian values of life, fairness and equality need to be protected.
For too long, I have complained the Republican National Committee paid little attention to the Democratic-leaning Hispanic, African American, Pacific Islander and Asian-leaning groups that misconstrue what the Republican Party stands for, even demonizing the term “conservative values.”
In the last six years, under Ronna’s leadership, the RNC has taken a stand against Democrats and established a concerted effort to address these lies and misrepresentations in order to get minority communities to really see and feel at home inside the Republican Party.
The results speak for themselves, as we have broken every record of Hispanic, African American, Pacific Islander, and Asian engagement and voter turnout across America. I am proud to say that Guam just elected our first Republican congressman in over 30 years. For the first time in modern history, a majority of the territorial members of Congress are Republican. This is largely due to Ronna’s 50 states and territories strategy, the Grow Program she established, as well as her commitment to opening minority community centers across the United States. For the first time, all U.S. territories are part of the RNC Data Center, as well as the national fundraising effort through WinRed.
Finally, as a former state party chair, Ronna understands the importance of returning power and control to the state and territory parties. Direct funding to conservative groups that align with our values and causes is great, but where are they after Election Day as we try and maintain our grassroots infrastructure or continue our county organizations? Ronna has and continues to support our state parties as the principal institution in every state and territory, letting every outside group know that they are expected to work with, not against, our state parties.
For all the reasons stated above and many more, I ask that my fellow committee members give their vote to Ronna McDaniel, my friend, for reelection as chair of the RNC.
• Juan Carlos Benitez is chairman of the Republican Party of Guam.
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