P.O. Box 2975, Fredericksburg TX 78624

Gillespie County Republicans

Thank you, Gillespie County voters! With an incredible 80% turnout in favor of Republican candidates, you helped elect every Republican on our ballot. Your commitment and support are deeply appreciated, and together we’ll continue to work toward a strong future for our community and values.

Local Election Results (official)- click here
Results by Precinct (official)- click here

Congratulations to our local Republican candidates on their election victories!

Republican Candidates on the Nov 2024 Ballot

(click on their name to see their website)

WON President/Vice President – Donald J. Trump / J.D. Vance
WON U.S. Senator – Ted Cruz
WON U.S. Representative Dist 21 –  Chip Roy
WON Railroad Commissioner – Christi Craddick
WON Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Place 2 – Jimmy Blacklock
WON Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Place 4 – John Devine
WON Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Place 6 – Jane Bland
WON Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals – David J. Schenck
WON Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7 – Gina Parker
WON Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8 – Lee Finley
WON Member, State Board of Education, Dist 10 – Tom Maynard
WON State Representative, Dist 19 – Ellen Troxclair
WON Justice, 4th Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 – Todd McCray
WON Justice, 4th Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 – Lori Massey Brissette
WON Justice, 4th Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5 – Adrian Spears
WON Justice, 4th Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7 – Lori I. Valenzuela
WON District Judge, 216th Judicial District – Albert “Pat” D. Pattillo, III
WON District Attorney, 216th Judicial District – Lucy Wilke
WON County Court at Law – Christopher Nevins
WON County Attorney – Sara Neel
WON Sheriff – Chris Ayala
WON County Tax Assessor-Collector – Carol Rode Durst
WON County Treasurer – Unexpired Term – Vicki J. Schmidt
WON County Commissioner, Pct 1 – Charles Olfers
WON County Commissioner, Pct 3 – Charles “Chuck” Jenschke

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Ronald Reagan – Republican, U.S. President 1981-1989

 

History

Republican Elephant-Trad
The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. It is often called the “GOP” or Grand Old Party. Traditionally it has supported laissez-faire free enterprise (keeping government out of business) low taxes, and conservative social policies. The Elephant is the party’s official logo derived from a cartoon by Thomas Nast in the 1870s.
In American political culture, the Ass in the Lion’s Skin was one of several fables by Aesop that were put to use by cartoonist Thomas Nast when it was rumored in 1874 that the Republican President Ulysses S. Grant would attempt to run for an unprecedented third term in two years. Around that time, there was also a false report that the animals had escaped Central Park Zoo and roamed the city. Nast combined the two items in a cartoon for the 7 November Harper’s Weekly; titled “Third Term Panic”, it depicts a donkey (symbol of the Democrat Party) in a lion’s skin (labeled Caesarism) scattering animals that stand for various interests.Nast Cartoon from 1870s

The caption on Thomas Nast’s cartoon in the 1870s read, ” An ass, having put on the lion’s skin, roamed about in the Forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings.”

Republican Party of Texas (RPT)

“Throughout early 1867 the Union Loyal League, comprised mainly of newly enfranchised blacks and a small number of white Unionists, held mass meetings across the state…The first of these meetings was held in Austin on April 27, 1867, and called for a convention in Houston….”

“On July 4, 1867, these activists met in Houston for the first Republican state convention….”

“Closely associated with the Union and the abolition of slavery, the party’s initial membership was predominantly African-American but with a mainly white leadership consisting of a large portion of German-Americans and those who had been opposed to secession and Texas’ membership in the Confederacy….”  ~ by Wayne Thorborn

Gillespie County on map of Texas“Gillespie County is something of an aberration in that it is a historically Republican county in a state that was overwhelmingly Democratic up until recent decades. This is largely due to the heavily German-American heritage of the county and that Gillespie was the center of Texas’ small Unionist movement during the Civil War when most Texas Germans acquiesced to secession but Fredericksburg was still self-sufficient and sold surplus food to the army. Gillespie County has been won by Republicans in every election since 1896 with only a handful of exceptions.” (Source-Wikipedia)

Today, the Republican Party of Texas is governed by the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC).  It is composed of the Chairman, Abraham George, the Vice-Chairman, D’rinda Randall, and a committeeman and committeewoman from each of the 31 State Senate Districts. Gillespie County is in Senate District 24 and is represented by Andrew Eller, Committeeman, and Mary Jane Avery, Committeewoman.

In Gillespie County, there are four groups representing area Republicans; the GC Republican Party, the GC Republican Women, the Fredericksburg Republican Club, and the GC Young Republicans. You can find them all in the navigation menu.