CHAIRMAN'S ELECTION RECAP By Mark Vafiades

Last night was a great night! On a national level, Republicans achieved an amazing accomplishment by electing a GOP majority in the U.S. Senate by both defeating entrenched Democrat incumbents and winning open seats that were not held by Republicans.  We won in every region of the country as well. The Republican Party also maintained control of the House of Representatives and increased our majority. In fact, it has been more than 50 years since the GOP held this many seats in the House. We also picked up several congressional seats in California, from the Central Valley to San Diego. We are making history.  On a local level, Los Angeles County Republicans had an excellent night. David Hadley (66th Assembly District) Tom Lackey (36th Assembly District) and Janet Nguyen (34th Senate District) all won their seats by dumping Democrat incumbents -- which the media and the pundits insisted couldn't be done. But we did it. Statewide, the GOP was able to break the 2/3 Democrat supermajority in both the Assembly and State Senate!   For the first time in 20 years, a Democrat in the State Legislature was defeated, and last night, it happened three times! I would personally like to congratulate all of our candidates on running excellent campaigns. Unfortunately, some of our candidates were not able to win last night, but their hard work and long hours did not go unnoticed. Every single candidate played a significant role in making sure we had the success we had last night!  They and their supporters were out there every day and night, meeting with voters and carrying the Republican message.  We won as a Team, and every single candidate was a part of that team.  Next I would like to thank all of our volunteers who helped our candidates with the most valuable commodity any of us can offer: our time and energy. Without your efforts and dedication, our candidates simply could not have been competitive. Your generosity is truly appreciated more than we can fully express.  Our collective efforts during the 2014 election show that the LA GOP is building a professional political organization, and by doing so, we can win in this County. Turning the tide in California will take more than one election, but our efforts in this cycle show that we are on the path to success. Let's continue to build on this success as we prepare for 2016 and beyond. Once again, thank you!!       Mark Vafiades Chairman, Republican Party of Los Angeles County