The Randolph County Republican Party will look to build on its success in November in maintaining total GOP control of the county governing board by seeking out qualified candidates to run for local offices.
“The focus is to find good candidates for partisan races,” the county GOP’s new chairwoman, Wanda Dethrow, told the Southwest Illinois News.
Dethrow pointed to GOP successes in the November election, such as the victory of Republican Commissioner David Holder over his Democratic opponent Randy Bertetto, the former Sparta mayor. That outcome means that Republicans will continue to hold all three slots on the county board, with Dr. Marc Kiehna serving as chairman and Commissioner Ronnie White serving in the third position.
“We’re looking on building our Central Committee too,” Dethrow said, adding that the county party will be trying to exercise more influence in each of the precincts.
She had no comment on whether the incoming Trump administration's new policies and cabinet appointees would have beneficial effects for the county.
Randolph is one of 17 counties in the state that have a commission form of county governance, rather than the township model. Under the commission system, counties are run by three to five elected board members who perform all the legislative and executive duties with equal powers. The chairman position typically rotates annually among commission members.
Voter turnout in the county was very heavy in November, according to Dethrow, reaching about 68 percent, with about 14,400 people casting votes from an electorate of more than 21,000 registered voters.
Republican enthusiasm for presidential candidate Donald Trump throughout the county was apparent from the November election results – Trump easily defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Randolph County by a margin of 50 percent, with Trump getting 74 percent to Clinton’s 24 percent. The GOP didn’t field candidates for several countywide races, however. Those unopposed races were for circuit clerk, state’s attorney and county coroner.
In addition to getting good candidates to run under the GOP banner, Dethrow said the county GOP will also concentrate on getting more events for the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, a 1,600-acre site that’s run by the state Department of Natural Resources. More efforts should be placed on getting more youth groups to use the 10-year-old facility for different events, the county GOP chairwoman said.
Each year the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships are held at the complex. The event spans several days and bills itself as the biggest shooting contest of its kind, with shooters winning titles such as “Clay Target Champion.”
Increased use of the complex would bring in more revenue and give the facility a higher profile, Dethrow said.
Traditionally, Randolph County has been known for family farming, mining and manufacturing, as well as a business-friendly tax system and competitive labor costs, according to economic development officials. Dethrow sees some economic progress happening in the years ahead as the county commissioners reach out to a number of companies to locate there.
And she also expects some progress in negotiations on a comprehensive state budget in the coming year, since some new state lawmakers are coming aboard as a result of the November election.
“People are talking to their senators and representatives and saying we have to come to an agreement,” Dethrow said.
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