A suburban GOP board demanded a local Republican retract statements she made against the party to The Enquirer.
Drama continues to unfold in the Warren County GOP, in a county where President Donald Trump won with 64% of the vote in 2024 and where Republicans hold all three county commission seats and every Statehouse seat.
Linda Burke, the mayor of South Lebanon and a county party executive board member, said Warren County Republican board members demanded that she retract her statements and endorse Chairman Christian Mays. The board threatened to censure her or kick her out of the party if she did not, Burke said.
“That says we want to be in total control, and if you do these things you are not a Republican in good standing,” she said about the board’s requests. “They don’t want any disagreement. It’s a threat. I feel like my First Amendment is being violated, and they cannot coerce me into endorsing anyone.”
Mays said Burke was not asked to endorse him as a candidate, but to support him as the current party chairman.
Board demands ‘endorsement’ of chairman
In an email obtained by The Enquirer, the board asked Burke to:
According to the email, Burke was asked to retract her comments and provide a new statement to Mays by March 12.
GOP Chairman: ‘We want folks to have accurate information’
Mays said the statements he wanted retracted were social media comments Burke had posted online. In an email, he said Burke acknowledged her comments were inaccurate, deleted them and apologized to him.
The email that listed the board’s demands, which Mays forwarded to Burke, mentioned statements made to The Enquirer.
“We want folks to have accurate information about the Warren County GOP,” Mays wrote in an email to The Enquirer. “We asked Mrs. Burke to retract the statements, and after acknowledging the inaccuracy, she agreed to take them down. All parties apologized to one another for any misunderstanding, and everyone has moved on.”
Burke said she did delete one Facebook comment, where she alluded to Mays as a “king,” without naming him, and said she would not be bullied by him. She said she deleted the comment after the list of demands by the board, to “keep the peace,” and she received no apology from board members.
What did Burke say about the party?
Burke has been a member of the central committee for 14 years and is running for reelection in May. In a March 3 interview with The Enquirer, she and another Republican said the Warren County GOP sent texts encouraging other people to run for the committee in precincts where they were already running.
Burke said the party knew she was running as an incumbent and called the situation “corrupt.”
The other Republican, Sheri Vorherr, said she thought the party recruited people to run against her and other women because they had disagreed with leadership about endorsements and party strategies.
These and other accusations have led to party infighting and an anonymous newsletter, called “The Elephant Society,” that’s critical of party leadership.
In an earlier interview with The Enquirer, Mays said Patriot Pulse, a campaign advertising firm, sent the texts to registered Republicans. The Warren County GOP paid Patriot Pulse $9,672 in October, according to campaign finance records.
The texts were supposed to be sent to people in precincts where no one was running, Mays said, but it’s possible there was “overlap.”
Not all women candidates have a challenger, and some men candidates are challenged. Mays denied that any of the women were targeted or that there is sexism within the party.
Chairman says Burke won’t be censured or expelled
During a Zoom call last week, Burke said 14 board members voted to demand that she retract her statements, and threatened to censure or expel her from the party if she did not.
Burke said she will not retract her statements in The Enquirer article because she did not make any accusations about the committee’s financial integrity, as was alleged by the board in its email.
“They’re trying to twist my words and I’m not going to have it,” she said. “They’ve made my life an actual living hell for the past week.”
Mays said the board did not vote to take any action against Burke during a meeting on March 16.
“Everyone has moved on,” he wrote in an email.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: GOP board demands retraction, endorsement from member who spoke out
Reporting by Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
