From Delaware GOP Chair, Julianne Murray
February 10, 2025
When I ran for the Chair of the Delaware GOP in 2023, I had three goals: 1) raise the visibility of the DEGOP 2) unify the party and 3) increase turnout of Republican voters. I’m proud to say, under my leadership, these last two years, we accomplished all three of these goals.
However, the fact is, two years ago, I had no idea how insolvent the DEGOP was when I took over. I remember saying to myself, “I had no idea it was this bad.” Never one to back down from a challenge, I was forced to begin triaging which fires to put out first. I recruited a team of people I knew I could count on; we rolled up our sleeves and we got to work.
Those first few months were brutal. Between the immediate fires that needed to be extinguished and the significant resistance from people inside the DEGOP, I had more of a challenge on my hands than anticipated.
I think we all know that we can be our own worst enemy sometimes. I took the position (against the advice of much of the Executive Committee) to focus FORWARD and to NOT talk about all of the unanticipated crises we faced when I took the reins. I wanted to adopt an attitude of hope and collaboration, but the truth is, the Party I inherited was very much in shambles. Looking back, perhaps it was a miscalculation on my part to not share everything we faced because I now realize that people are not aware of just how bad things were and how far we have come.
We dug out of debt, secured a new Headquarters from a donor in kind, lowered expenses, created state-wide task forces, leveraged technology with the development of the DEGOP app (an app that rivals Scott Presler’s) and had a record 75% turnout statewide for Republicans in the November 2024 general election, with 40% voting early!
One of the things I am most proud of is within months of my tenure the DEGOP was finally solvent, which made it possible to accomplish those things I listed above.
Even with all those accomplishments, we recognize the glaring fact—we are simply outnumbered in registrations. While proud of the record turnout we had in November - a direct result of our hyper-focus on getting out the vote -the last election laid bare that closing the gap must be an area of intense focus moving forward.
I am stating here, under my leadership, we will work to change that and are exploring strategies to make that happen.