New Rules Don’t Exclude Young Candidates

New statewide rules on who can run as a Republican won’t stop younger people from running for office.

Putnam County Republican Party executive committee member Kent Kogar said young people, particularly members of Republican youth organizations, won’t have a problem.

“They would be, not necessarily exempted from the rule, but they would still be counted as Republicans if they were members of any auxiliary groups that I mentioned or the county Republican party leadership,” Koger said.

He said the new rules are basically checks and balances, with plenty of flexibility for individual cases.

“In reading this is some of the underlying reasons were just to insure that candidates that maybe nobody knows, you can quickly check the block there and say yes, they voted in three of the last four,” Koger said.

The new rules also include a vouching system. Newer Republicans can ask those currently in office or those in party leadership to issue a statement, in writing, that they are party members.