On Saturday, Bill Harris was elected as the newest National Committeeman for Alabama Republican Party. Harris is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and the Autauga County Republican Party Chairman.
Harris thanked the 480-member Republican State Executive Committee for voting him to represent the state on the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Harris defeated Montgomery businessman John Blanchard and incumbent National Committeeman Paul Reynolds.
“I want to thank Paul Reynolds for his long service on the RNC,” Harris said. “Thank you Mr. Blanchard for also running. I want to thank you all again for electing me to be your national committeeman.”
John Blanchard was endorsed for the position by former President Donald J. Trump (R). Blanchard serves on Trump’s 2024 campaign finance committee. He us married to former Ambassador Lindy Blanchard.
“Lindy and I are part of the Trump campaign and I have been told that, I have not verified it, but I have been told that I am in the top ten in fundraising for President Trump – in 2016 I was number 8 with Don jr. being number one,” Blanchard said. “We are also part of the transition team to get our next administration ready today.”
“It’s our time now,” Blanchard said. “The goal is to have 2,500 to 3,500 people ready to go to work on Day 2. We are part of that team.”
President Trump will bring changes to the RNC, Blanchard said.
“He will be in charge, and Lindy is even the Trump surrogate in Alabama. There is something to be said that when President Trump is not here, we have Lindy here. We ask for your consideration. We want to serve you on the national level with people we are already associated with. I want to serve you on the state level.”
“My name is Bill Harris,” Harris said. “I am running to be your next national committeeman.”
“The Wednesday, before I sent my announcement out, I called Paul and said: Paul, I am not running against you I am running for National Committeeman,” Harris said.
“I am the only candidate who will impose term limits,” Harris said. “I will only serve two terms. I will serve one term. If I can make a difference, I will serve a second term. When I give my committeeman report I will keep it to five minutes. Third my resume and political experience. I have been a Republican since I was 16 years old.”
“I was chairman of the Autauga County Party,” Harris said. “Last fall we found out that our county’s libraries were filled with pornographic books. Things so filthy and disgusting that the County Commission and the city would not let you read them in their presence; but they would let our three-year-old, four-year-old, and five-year-olds see them. Things like how young people can transition, how young people can have sexual activities. Let my tell you it is embarrassing for me to say that. Our committee stood firm – We passed a second resolution saying that we will not tolerate that. Today, all five of that library board have removed, new members are in place, and those books have been pushed aside.”
“I am not wealthy and usually a national committeeman is wealthy,” Harris said. “I am not going to be buying tables.”
“At 17, I joined the military,” Harris said. “34 years later, I retired a full colonel.”
“God is the only thing that can save our country,” Harris said. “I want to represent you and our values on the RNC. It is very important to be your voice. Let’s get together and save this nation.”
Paul Reynolds is the longtime incumbent on the RNC.
“The RNC chose this week to just about completely melt down and I spent most of my time explaining the different things about the RNC and what exactly is happening,” Reynolds said. “There is a role that I play as your committeeman that we do not think about much. I am in essence a watchman on the wall as to what is going on, on the national scene as it filters through the RNC and I report back to you. I do not represent the RNC to you: I represent you to the RNC. There is a world of difference between those two.”
“A little over three years ago several of us at the RNC that make up a group called the conservative steering committee were sitting around talking and thinking about the things that we not happening right at the RNC,” Reynolds said. “We were getting off track by not preparing for the next election.”
“We were making a mess of things and we said this is going to show up in our biggest voting bloc,” Reynolds said. “Do you know what the biggest voting bloc is at the RNC. It is the conservative Christian and the practicing Catholic make up the faith-based values bloc. It has been up to 37%. It has dropped to 22% in the last special election. We have gone all the way from 37% to 22% and there has to be a reason for it. It just couldn’t go away by itself. It is because the evangelicals are being turned off by what is happening at the RNC and the House and the Senate, especially the Senate, has not helped us very much either.”
“The RNC is struggling to come up with the money,” Reynolds said. “We don’t have the money we need to gear up for the next election,” Reynolds said. “We need $100 million to put in the infrastructure for the next election.”
“We have to get our act together and we have to get our act together quickly,” Reynolds said. “I was one of the ones marked to be eliminated because I was a troublemaker. I have not changed in the entire time I have been there, and I will not change now.”
Blanchard got the least number of votes and was eliminated after one round of voting. Harris defeated Reynolds in the runoff election.
National Committeewoman Vicki Drummond was re-elected without opposition. Lindy Blanchard was nominated for the position, but she turned it down and endorsed Drummond.
Each state has three representatives on the RNC. The State Party Chair is the third member with a vote on the RNC.
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