The Maryland Republican Party elected a new slate of officers at its semi-socially distanced semi-annual convention Saturday at the Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover.
Incumbent Dirk Haire was reelected to a third term as state GOP chairman. Haire received 66% of the vote in a three-way race that included Brandon Cooper, who had been the first vice chairman.
Haire, who is married to Anne Arundel County Councilmember Jessica Haire (R), spent several years as counsel to the state GOP before becoming party chairman in 2016.
Nicole Bennett, a resident of Charles County, was elected first vice chairwoman. Bennett is a health care professional who serves as chairwoman of the Maryland Republican Party’s Black Republican Council.
Al Mendelsohn, who has served on the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee for 22 years, was elected second vice chairman. Mendelsohn owns an insurance business in Reisterstown.
Chris Tomlinson, a resident of Carroll County who works for the Maryland Transit Administration, was elected third vice
chairman, while Mark Uncapher was reelected to a third term as Maryland GOP secretary, while Chris Rosenthal was reelected to a sixth term as state GOP treasurer. He is also the campaign treasurer for Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R).
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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