A longtime treasurer has left his role and said he can’t continue “signing checks” for the county’s Republican party.
Randy Kuvin, who has served as treasurer, an unpaid role, for the Warren County GOP for 24 years, declined the party’s renomination for the role earlier this month.
He told The Enquirer that party leaders have spent more money supporting candidates in Republican primary elections and other races where Republicans run against each other in recent years.
Kuvin, 63, who also holds office as Warren County’s elected treasurer, disagreed with that spending strategy and said he also did not support the candidates the party backed.
“In light of tonight’s election to renew the Party’s leadership, and with the expectation that the practice of unfettered and indiscriminate endorsements of inadequately vetted Republican candidates against other qualified and well-known Republican officeholders and candidates will continue, I must respectfully decline the nomination for Executive Committee Treasurer,” Kuvin said in a written statement after the June 4 meeting.
GOP Chairman Christian Mays, who was reelected during that meeting, did not respond to The Enquirer’s emailed request for comment.
Treasurer’s split follows building tension in county GOP
Disagreements over party endorsements and campaign spending have created tension in the Warren County GOP for months. The suburban county north of Cincinnati is staunchly Republican. President Donald Trump won with 64% of the vote in 2024 and Republicans dominate the local government, controlling the three county commission seats and all three Statehouse seats.
The party paid Patriot Pulse, a campaign advertising firm, $18,200 for mailed advertisements and text messages to promote candidates in the 2026 primary race, according to preprimary financial reports the party filed with the county board of elections.
In 2025, the party paid the firm $9,672 to support some Republican candidates. A few party members claimed money was also used to attack other Republican candidates, which party leaders denied.
Treasurer says party supports candidates of ‘questionable character’
Speaking with The Enquirer by phone, Kuvin named Dan Smith, a former Little Miami Local Schools board member, as one candidate he did not support. Smith resigned from the board in March after social media posts he shared denying the Holocaust and praising Hitler were brought to light.
The county GOP endorsed Smith when he ran for the board in 2023. In a Facebook post, Smith said he did not seek the party’s endorsement when he ran in 2025. But his name, along with his running mate Mandy Bullock, appeared on a card of Warren County GOP’s endorsed candidates obtained by The Enquirer.
After Smith resigned from the school board in March 2026, the county GOP called Smith’s posts “reprehensible” and “deeply concerning” in a statement on Facebook and said his resignation was appropriate.
“I am sincerely grateful for the support and vote of confidence that this nomination represents. However, I simply cannot and will not place myself in the position of signing checks for contributions or expenditures supporting the election of individuals of questionable character who have been and will be endorsed by the Party under this current and continuing practice,” Kuvin, who lives in Hamilton Township, said in his statement. “I am proud of my 24 years of service to the Party as Executive Committee Treasurer, and I remain deeply appreciative of the opportunity to have served in that role.”
Kuvin is still a party member, but he is no longer listed on the party’s leadership webpage. Zoanne Bouche is listed as the central committee treasurer and Scott Schitter is the executive committee treasurer.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: County GOP official leaves role over ‘questionable’ candidates
Reporting by Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
