Central Committee

The Republican Party of Santa Cruz County ─ Central Committee

The county central committee is the official Republican political organization within Santa Cruz County. The committee’s activities involve a broad range of local political strategy including voter registration, recruitment and training of candidates; framing and endorsement of public policy measures, and fundraising.

The committee consists of elected (or “regular”) members and ex-officio members. The positions on the central committee are non-public offices, the service is without pay, and the committee levies annual dues upon its members.

Twenty-one regular seats are apportioned between the county’s five supervisorial districts based on the relative vote counts received by the Republican gubernatorial candidate from within each district in the most recent general election. Election to fill these seats occurs as part of the Republican primary in each quadrennial presidential election year. Elected members serve four year terms commencing in January following the national presidential election.

The nominees of the party for California’s 18th and 20th congressional districts, the 17th State Senate district and the 29th and 30th State Assembly districts serve as ex-officio members on the Santa Cruz County Central Committee. In the event that the most recent Republican nominees for the U.S. Senate or any of the seven state constitutional offices reside in Santa Cruz County, those persons would also be entitled to serve on the committee. Each ex-officio members serves on the committee until such time as another person is nominated to succeed them.

Candidates for elective (i.e. regular) seats on the central committee must file nomination papers including the signatures of not less than twenty registered Republican voters from within the supervisorial district of the candidate’s residence. The names of qualifying candidates are placed on the primary ballot by the Santa Cruz County Elections Department to be voted on by Republicans registered to vote within the respective supervisorial districts.

The central committee is governed under the terms of its bylaws and by applicable provisions of the California Elections Code and holds a biennial organization meeting in the second week of January in each odd-numbered year. At that time the committee elects a chairman and other officers and appoints standing committees.

Regular members who do not retain residency in the supervisorial district from which they were elected are deemed to have resigned from the committee. The committee may also remove any members for cause, including: affiliation with another political party; voicing public opposition to a Republican nominee for partisan office; or giving support or avowing preference for a candidate of a candidate who is opposed to a candidate nominated by the party.

Select your district below to see your local committee members.