Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz at October Lunch
Our October meeting featured newly elected State Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz. A rising star in the PBC Republican party, supporting GOTV efforts and candidates at all levels for the last 5 years, Jodi won almost 25,000 votes (40%) in the August election in a county-wide race against two opponents, including a past Vice Chair and candidate in several House and Senate races. As Committeewoman, she will represent the county party to RPOF and connect local candidates with the movers and shakers in Tallahassee.
Jodi started with the various ways that members can help get our candidates elected on 11/5. At this point we are “past the point of persuasion” and focused on Get Out the Vote. Early voting has already started, and Republicans have done better this year in returning Vote by Mail ballots.
Some of her suggestions suggestions are:
- Sign up for a slot at one of the GOP tents at the early voting sites
- Wear a flag pin or Trump hat and talk it up in supermarket lines and other public places
- Sign wave at the Early Voting sites
- Sign up at the office to door knock and phone bank
- Bring friends and family to the polls
- VOTE EARLY!!
With a full list of our candidates, she urged support for them as well as our positions on the ballot amendments: NO on 3 (Marijuana) and 4 (Abortion), YES on the others, and NO on the sales tax surcharge. It looks good for our incumbents Peggy Gosset Seidman and Mike Caruso, and Meg Weinberger in the seat vacated by Rick Roth. We have the chance of a pickup in HD93 where Anne Gerwig is challenging incumbent Katherine Waldron.
We had asked her to say a few words about election integrity, and that clearly is on people’s minds as there were a lot of questions. She made a good case for the strengths of our checks and balances, and the improvements that have been made since Wendy Link was appointed Supervisor of Elections by Governor DeSantis.
State Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz to speak at October Meeting
State Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz
In particular, we asked Jodi to discuss:
- How members can help get us to the finish line
- The outlook for the various races and questions
- Election integrity and what RPOF and the local party is doing to provide oversight to the SOE processes
- The future of the party in PBC and Florida and how it would differ depending on who wins the federal races
Program Noon – 1PM, Buffet starts at 11:30AM
Cash Bar Available
Palm Beach Kennel Club – Paddock Restaurant
1111 N Congress Ave
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
MAP
$28/Members $35/Guests
Pay at the door.
Make sure you submit your RSVP in advance by clicking on our link below:
Republican Club of the Palm Beaches
213 29th Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
(561) 855-0749
Jodi Schwartz has been a full time, very active, grassroots volunteer in Palm Beach County politics since January of 2020. She has worked on Congressional, State House, State Senate, County Commissioner, School Board, and City Council Campaigns. She has held leadership roles in the Republican Party of Palm Beach County as a Regional Director and Deputy Director of Election Operations. Jodi looks forward to taking her activism to the next level, representing you in the State Party.
Her story is similar to a lot of us in South Florida. She was born in Brooklyn, NY, and moved around the Northeast, from NY to Massachusetts, then to New Jersey to Connecticut, before moving to Boca in 2017. Jodi graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Business with a concentration in Management Information Systems, and started her career as a Technical Recruiter and Corporate Trainer before leaving to raise a family. Married to Duane for 20 years, they have two children, Andrew (18) and Hannah (15).
PBCGOP Chairman Kevin Neal to Speak at September Meeting
County GOP Chairman Kevin Neal
Program Noon – 1PM, Buffet starts at 11:30AM
Cash Bar Available
Palm Beach Kennel Club – Paddock Restaurant
1111 N Congress Ave
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
MAP
$28/Members $35/Guests
Pay at the door.
Make sure you submit your RSVP in advance by clicking on our link below:
Republican Club of the Palm Beaches
213 29th Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
(561) 855-0749
Kevin Neal is a populist, nationalist, America First Republican and currently serves as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County. Kevin’s primary goal is to get Republican candidates elected in Palm Beach County to municipal, county, state, and national offices. Kevin is also focused on recruiting new members for the Republican Executive Committee.
Kevin is the founder and CEO of Neal Development Company. He has almost 20 years of experience in design and real estate development and has developed projects totaling over 3,000 units and over one billion dollars. As a Real Estate Executive Kevin has led projects with teams made up of hundreds of people and budgets totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Kevin is also a trained Architect and he has designed and developed some of the most successful multi-family apartment projects in Florida. Kevin earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Masters in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Kevin and Laura live in Delray Beach with their twin sons.
School Board Candidates on the Challenges and Opportunities of the 2024 Education Legislation
Challenges and Opportunities in the School System
SB1 candidate Matthew Lane
SB1 candidate Page Lewis
SB5 candidate Mike Letsky
SB5 candidate Suzanne Page
SB5 candidate Gloria Branch
At least until November, when ballot amendment one will decide if they remain that way, the School Board races are non-partisan. The candidates who are registered as Republicans tend to let you know that by advertising in the wire and appearing at clubs and the REC, and we have asked them to participate in our forum on July 23rd.
In district one, the far north part of the county and heavily Republican (R+17), Matthew Lane and Page Lewis are facing Democrat Francesca Wernisch.
In district five, which is the far south part of the county mostly south of Clint Moore Road and evenly divided (R+0), Gloria Branch, Suzanne Page and Mike Letsky will face off against Democrats Mindy Koch and Charman Postel.
In both districts, all the Republican candidates have agreed to join us.
If no candidate receives a majority of the votes in August, a run-off with the top 2 will appear on the November ballot.
Besides hearing the candidates present their value proposition – why they are the best choice, we have asked them to comment on some of the legislation passed this year that affects K-12 education. That includes for example, a focus on courses supporting the building trades (HB917), the introduction of chaplains (HB931) and presentations by patriotic organizations (HB1317) and the teaching of the history of Communism in the curriculum (SB1264). There were also enhancements to school choice (HB1403) and the school guardian program (HB1473), and the use of Artificial Intelligence to improve classroom effectiveness (HB1361). We would also like to hear their views on Amendment one which would make their races partisan.
We will also be awarding our 2024 Anne Roberts Scholarships at this meeting.
Please join us for what should be an interesting event!
Program Noon – 1PM, Buffet starts at 11:30AM
Cash Bar Available
Palm Beach Kennel Club – Paddock Restaurant
1111 N Congress Ave
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
MAP
$28/Members $35/Guests
Pay at the door.
Make sure you submit your RSVP in advance by clicking on our link below:
Republican Club of the Palm Beaches
213 29th Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
(561) 855-0749
Club Participates in Red White and Blue Barbecue
On Saturday, June 15th, the club had a table at the President’s Council barbecue featuring many candidates for this year’s elections. We also met some new people and added to the club roster.
With Armand Grossman as master of ceremonies, John Fischer in colonial garb singing the anthem, and keynote speaker and Trump friend Peter Ticktin, we ate sandwiches from a food truck and heard the stump speeches from county Republicans candidates, many of whom had their teams manning information booths throughout the SCCC pavilion area.
If you weren’t able to attend, here are the candidates that spoke to us (or were represented by surrogates). CLICK HERE For a full list of candidates, with links to their websites.
 Brian Mast (surr) Congress 21 |
 Dan Franzese Congress 22 |
 Andrew Gutmann Congress 22 |
 Deborah Adeimy Congress 22 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Gary Barve Congress 23 |
 Bob Weinroth Congress 23 |
 Joe Kaufman (surr) Congress 23 |
 Forest Freedman State Attorney |
 Sam Stern State Attorney |
 Mike Caruso House district 87 |
 Dan Zapata House district 89 |
 Bill Reicherter House district 90 |
 Anne Gerwig House district 93 |
 Christian Acosta (surr) House district 94 |
 John Fischer County Comm 5 |
 Laurel Diaz Sheriff |
 Mike Gauger Sheriff |
 Roderick Clarke Port district 3 |
 Tami Donnally State Committeewoman |
 Jodi Schwartz State Committeewoman |
 Jenniffer Lee State Committeewoman |
Jason Kulp State Committeeman |
 Joe LaFauci State Committeeman |
President’s Council Red White and Blue BBQ
In lieu of holding a meeting in June, we are asking our members to attend the Republican Club President’s Council Barbeque on Saturday June 15th. Many of the federal, state and local candidates will speak in addition to Peter Ticktin’s anecdotes about former (and next) President Donald Trump. The club will have a tent at the event, so drop by and say hello!
Donald Trump wins RCPB Straw Poll
The club hosted a forum on September 26th to contrast Florida’s two presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis which included a straw poll.
After an introduction by Fred Scheibl who highlighted the unprecedented nature of this 2024 election, Willy Guardiola (“Christian on a Mission”, “Trump Corner” rallies, anti-abortion activist) explained his personal connection to Donald Trump and why he needs to be re-elected. Then Joe Budd (“Trump-45 club co-founder, 2 time Congressional candidate) outlined why he thinks it is time for Ron DeSantis to take the reins of our country.
The coming election is unique to say the least. The twice impeached front-runner who has been indicted four times by a corrupt DOJ and vindictive prosecutors in New York and Georgia is the left’s worse enemy. They are willing to trash the rule of law, the first amendment, lawyer-client and executive privilege to prevent him from re-taking the white house. The media has dropped all pretense of fairness or impartiality. Leftists in the states are trying to keep Trump off the ballot with the 14th amendment, and there are unresolved election integrity issues, even in Florida. Despite all that, he has a majority in most national polls and in one, beats Joe Biden by 10 points.
Willy referred to the outstanding Trump record – “Making America Great Again” at least until Covid came along and threw the world into chaos, and the awesome experience of being in the crowd of 800,000 for the January 6th rally in Washington (before anything happened at the capitol). Trump is needed again to repair the damage done by Biden’s leftist minions.
Joe explained that although he still loves Trump, he finds the drama exhausting. Trump could have accomplished more if he had picked the right team or fired the ones that proved to be working against him. He contrasted that to Governor DeSantis who has actually fired the “bad ones” – SOEs Susan Bucher and Brenda Snipes, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and a couple of rogue prosecutors. He touted the Governor’s conservative record – a CPAC 93 when in Congress, and how the 6 week abortion ban puts him to the right of Trump. As far as the polls are concerned, Joe pointed out that we don’t have national primaries and the results in Iowa and New Hampshire (which he thinks DeSantis can win) will change the dynamics of the race.
The attendees were asked to complete a straw poll ballot after hearing the speakers, and they were collected and tallied during the Q&A session which followed.
The results:
| For President | |
|---|---|
| Donald Trump | 53% |
| Ron DeSantis | 37% |
| Nikki Haley | 5% |
| Vivek Ramaswamy | 2% |
| Chris Christie | 2% |
| Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Others | 0% |
| For Vice President | |
| Nikki Haley | 24% |
| Kristi Noem | 13% |
| Vivek Ramaswamy | 13% |
| Tim Scott | 11% |
| Kari Lake | 11% |
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | 8% |
| Kim Reynolds | 5% |
| Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump | 1 vote each |
There was also one vote for the ticket of Ann Coulter and Megyn Kelly.
Also at the meeting was candidate Deb Adiemy, running for Congressional District 22.
The 2024 Presidential Primary – Why this one is different
Willy Guardiola making the case for President Trump
and Joe Budd in favor of Governor Ron DeSantis.
Though polling tells us that Donald Trump is the choice of a majority of Republicans, the left is telling us they will not permit him to retake the white house and are willing to shred the rule of law and all the norms of political activity to force their will upon us.
It is too early to tell whether this will succeed, though the indictments in Florida, Washington, New York, Georgia and maybe Arizona are enormous impediments to the Trump campaign from a money and time perspective. Politically, they have not seemed to dent his political capital, at least among Republicans, because (as he says) “… they are coming for us and I am just in the way”.
If you watched the debate on 8/23, you might agree that it is Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy who have emerged as the most valid approximations of MAGA candidates who could take the baton if the left achieves their goal.
From a policy perspective, both men share Trump’s MAGA agenda and there is little daylight between them. Differentiation instead depends on other factors such as:
- Will the left succeed in forcing Trump to quit the race one way or another?
- Will the blue states succeed in removing him from the ballot?
- Will the election be conducted with integrity and fairness and what candidate would be the best in keeping it that way?
- Are we going to stand by while the constitution is being shredded to get Trump by a rogue DOJ our mobilize as a party to fight it?
- Given the overwhelming attacks by the global left, the Washington ruling class and the media, all who see Donald Trump as an existential threat to them and their agenda, is he electable?
With no slight intended to Vivek, we have organized this forum to examine some of these issues by contrasting President Trump with Governor DeSantis. Most Republicans respect and admire both men, and it is sad that the race has generated bad feelings among friends.
For some thoughts on these and other points, we will have Willy Guardiola speaking in favor of President Trump as our nominee, and Joe Budd in favor of “the Florida alternative” Governor Ron DeSantis. Both are well known to the club and throughout the county.
Willy is known for his state-wide right-to-life activism, and the organization of rallies in support of President Trump at “Trump corner” and other places in the county, and has penned a state-wide call for the Governor to withdraw from the race.
Joe, a Congressional candidate for District 23 in 2022, is a co-founder of the Trump-45 club (now Trump-47) who has now swapped horses and supports the Governor for President. Appearing on “To the Point with Michael Williams“ on July 31, Joe no longer believes that Donald Trump can win or govern effectively.
After their remarks, we will have a Q&A session and discuss the issues.
Program Noon – 1PM, Buffet starts at 11:30AM
Cash Bar Available
Palm Beach Kennel Club – Paddock Restaurant
1111 N Congress Ave
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
MAP
$28/Members $35/Guests
Pay at the door.
Make sure you submit your RSVP in advance by clicking on our link below:
Republican Club of the Palm Beaches
213 29th Street
West Palm Beach, FL 33407
(561) 855-0749
Commissioner Sara Baxter and Sid Dinerstein Highlight December Lunch
What is a winning campaign strategy? Candidates who are newcomers to the political process will tell you they can win against the odds because of their particular background. They may have run businesses, or are professionals of one kind or another, or plan to identify with “the working man”. These newbies for the most part lose their elections because they underestimated the difficulty of raising money, reaching voters and crafting a coherent message. Political insiders, particularly incumbents, have overwhelming advantages in doing these things.
So how did Commissioner Sara Baxter overcome the odds? Winning by 5% while running as a Republican in a D+7 district against a well funded Democrat insider should make us all sit up and take notice. Clearly she knows how it is done, and at our December lunch, she told us.
With a war chest of about $100K (considerably less than her opponent), she didn’t waste it on a bunch of consultants to tell her what to do (a typical rookie mistake). As a small business owner, she already had the skills needed to identify her market and get her message out in an efficient way. She drew on a lot of free advice from the best minds, while taking advantage of a decade of experience in social media marketing. She also started early and worked very hard. Using video to tell her story, she was able to achieve the “touch every voter 7 times” principle so effectively that voters were asking her for new videos to watch.
Unlike the typical newcomer who may say they have the business skills to win but ultimately fall short, Sara actually managed her campaign as a business – with a budget and marketing plan to achieve a business objective – winning the race.
With that kind of skill on the dais, the other six commissioners better pay attention. I expect we will see a seismic shift at the county in the next couple of years.
Our other speaker was Sid Dinerstein who gave us a sobering assessment of the election just past on the national level.
With all the bad things that the Biden administration has done to the country, this was supposed to be our chance to reverse course. An overwhelming win – 50 house seats for example, would have put us on the road to recovery. Instead we barely limped across the finish line. Unless we can achieve a level playing field in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona (which should be red states but are now dominated by Democrat electioneers) we will never again win a national election.
There is a lot of blame to go around – some of the candidates were not suited for their races, and the national Republican leadership (particularly Mitch McConnell) seemed to be working against our candidates in a number of ways. Sid believes McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel are decent people, but they are not “warriors” and not suited to lead in these times.
Sid also opined about the presidential primary – he believes Ron DeSantis will definitely be in the race. The stars are aligned for him now and it will be impossible to pass that up. In a straw poll around the room on “who do you think will be the nominee”, the members picked DeSantis over Trump by a 3 to 1 margin.
We also had some holiday music at the event, with entertainer Bobby Fonseca.
Great Participation for Meet the Candidates
On Tuesday, September 27th, many of the Republican candidates on the November ballot joined us for quick introductions and to mingle with the members. Speaking for 4 minutes each, the enthusiasm and drive to succeed comes across strongly in this group as the Republican Party of Palm Beach County is fielding a diverse, capable group to compete in all the offices on the ballot.
Our candidates included:
 Eric Ankner Senate 24 |
 Steve Byers Senate 26 |
 Mike Caruso House 87 |
|---|---|---|
 Roz Stevens House 88 |
 Daniel Zapata House 89 |
 Dorcas Hernandez House 92 |
 Saulis Banionis House 93 |
 Sara Baxter Commission 6 |
 Jennifer Showalter School Board 6 |
 Vicki Franzese (for Dan) Congress 22 |