Ethan Demme
A 28-year-old first-term Republican committeeman has thrown his hat in the ring for county GOP chairman, saying he is dissatisfied with the direction of the party.
Ethan Demme, the chief operating officer of a math-curriculum publisher, became the first to enter the race to succeed Craig Ebersole in June. He said he believes the 319-member committee needs a "fresh face, fresh perspective."
"I see the committee really not doing a whole lot," Demme said. "I think it's maintaining an older style that I really don't think is working — mainly the fact that people don't know what the party's function is. They don't see the benefits of having a committee.
"I think it needs some fresh ideas and sort of a new perspective rather than recycling the same old people through the system again," Demme said.
Ebersole, the current chairman of county's dominant political party, said Wednesday he will not seek re-election when his term ends June 29.
Demme is the first to announce he will run for the post, although three potential candidates have begun testing the waters for a potential run — former Chairman David M. Dumeyer, former county treasurer Greg Sahd and an unidentified candidate.
Demme, a conservative blogger and social media enthusiast, is serving his first full two-year term as a committeeman in East Lampeter Township. He is the chief operating officer of Math-U-See and runs KeystoneConservative.com.
Demme, who grew up and was home-schooled in the county's southern end, is a 2002 graduate of Fairwood Bible Institute and 2005 graduate of Bryan College. He worked the polls for Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in 1996 and co-chaired presidential nominee John McCain's local team in 2008.
Demme said that, if elected by the committee as its next chairman, he would focus on boosting the number of registered Republicans and filling the dozens of empty committee seats, most of which are in Lancaster city.
Referring to the vacant seats, he said, "I think it's saying something about how unenthusiastic people are about the Republican Party in Lancaster."
Demme also said he would update the party's fundraising efforts, shifting away from exclusive country club galas. "There needs to be fewer golf outings and more stuff to do with regular people in the community," said Demme.
He also said he would work on educating voters about the party's role. When he was passing out petitions in the last election for the committee slot, he said many voters had no idea what the job entailed.