Mark Sell Wins Loudoun GOP Chair

Turnout for the vote was considerable with nearly a thousand LCRC committee members casting their votes with a final result of 512 for Sell and 458 for his opponent Candace Strother. The LCRC Chair serves a two year term.

Sell worked to position himself as the more conservative of the two candidates, receiving endorsements from Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Sterling Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio and other more social conservative members of the Republican Party. This, along with his standing as a long time volunteer with the LCRC, allowed Sell to edge out Strother.

Sell, who has described himself as a “grassroots ‘boots-on-the-ground’ activist,” has been a Republican volunteer for over a decade. In addition to his former role as LCRC Treasurer, he also acted as the volunteer coordinator for the Cuccinelli for Attorney General Campaign, worked as a precinct captain and served on several LCRC committees.

 Sell’s victory was particularly hard-won considering the caliber of his opponent. Strother was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Reagan administration and the Interior Department Chief of Staff to the Solicitor during the George H.W. Bush administration. Strother also co-chaired Loudoun’s Women for McCain in 2008 and led Loudoun’s Women for McDonnell in 2009.

In addition to outgoing chair Glen Caroline, Stroher was endorsed by all of the other five LCRC officers. The Sell/Strother contest was a contentious one for Loudoun Republicans, largely viewed as united after Loudoun voted overwhelmingly Republican in November 2009 in both statewide and delegate races.

While the candidates themselves appeared to concentrate on the positive aspects of their relative campaigns, supporters of each waged a war of words on conservative Web sites like tooconservative.com and novatownhall.com.

Despite the possibility of lingering enmity, a victorious Sell was quick to make note of his opponent’s well organized campaign, saying “I want to pay tribute to Candace Strother and her supporters for an exceptionally well-run and creative campaign that brought out the best in our Party. Our areas of agreement far outweigh any differences we may have, and I look forward to working closely with her as we build our Committee.”

Despite any possible division within the LCRC, party activists were quick to point out that 970 Republicans traveled to Belmont Ridge Middle School this past Saturday to cast their vote. The number of LCRC members who voted is impressive, especially when one considers them all as potential volunteers for the 2010 and 2011 elections.