With many key national, state and local races taking most of the spotlight in this election season, the Shenandoah Sentinel strongly endorses Withrow and Anderson in two lesser publicized but important local races.

Gwen Withrow is running against two term Bryan Christ for Montgomery County GOP Chair who lost the confidence of many in the party, including certain state GOP officials. After a mediation in November 2022, those officials concluded: “it is the Chair’s job to find a path through these disputes that works for both sides. Mr. Christ has not only failed in this principal duty, but seemed entirely uninterested in solving the problems. On questioning, he offered no solutions nor explanations of how things have gotten this far.”

A few months later, a conservative majority of precinct chairs publicly denounced Christ’s actions in a writ of mandamus filed with the Texas Supreme Court (which declined to hear the matter). Christ then took the unprecedented step of shutting down the county GOP headquarters. A long list of grievances against Christ is here. A complete list of Montgomery County precinct chairs is here.

Gwen Withrow is currently Precinct Chair 72 and member of the State Executive Committee. Incumbent Precinct 31 Chair Betty Anderson is being challenged by Suzanne Adams, who has publicly aligned herself with Christ.

The 2022 mediation report concluded with this observation: “It will be unfortunate for the precinct chairs and for the Republican voters of Montgomery County if he [Christ] continues in this vein, but ultimately it will be up to the voters of the county to replace him in the next cycle, barring further action before then.”

Yesterday, Ronna Romney McDaniel announced she would finally step down as chairman of the RNC after much pressure and a long record of failed leadership. Today, the Republican voters of this county should apply the pressure needed at the ballot box to replace Christ’s failed and divisive leadership.