Brooke McGowan eyes top NCGOP prize

The state Republican convention is just weeks away.  The bloody battle between MAGA forces and the establishment is once again heating up.  The fight usually plays out in resolution debates and the elections for state party offices.  This year – like several of the most recent past conventions — the fight will play out primarily in the election for chairman of the state party.

The incumbent chairman Jason Simmons — appointed to fill the unexpired term of RNC chairman Michael Whatley — will face off with MAGA activist Brooke McGowan of Iredell County.  (She ran in the 2024 10th congressional district primary eventually won by Pat Harrigan. )

McGowan, a native of Oklahoma, has lived in North Carolina since 2005 —  primarily in Cabarrus and Iredell counties. She says her county-level party offices have included: outreach chairman, program chairman, Reagan Day Committee member, and head of the Iredell Republican Women club.

Critics see the state party under leaders like Mike Whatley and Jason Simmons as having been reduced to little more than a pass-through entity and / or money-washing organ for legislative leaders and the Republican National Committee.  The state party — lately —  has been seen as more likely to be aggressive toward MAGA conservatives than toward leftists and other actual enemies of the party. 

MAGA activists – including McGowan — want the party to be more transparent in its dealings with activists and county organizations.  They’d like to see less of the current top-down authoritarianism and more cooperative, team efforts in dealings between the state party and local party groups.

We recently spoke with McGowan and she told us she’d like to see the state party be more active in its communications:

• more transparency on party finances,
• more programming and efforts to keep the grassroots informed on legislative issues,
• who key players from the state in Congress and the General Assembly are (and what they are up to),
• and stronger efforts to promote and defend the party’s platform, agenda and message via traditional and new media.   

The state GOP convention will be held from June 5 through June 8th in Greensboro.  (Party elections will likely be held on the 7th.) Anyone interested in attending as a voting delegate needs to coordinate with their county party and sign up online before June 2.

Anyone interested in meeting McGowan prior to the state convention can do so on May 22 at McDowell County’s GOP HQ or on the 23rd at Lee County’s GOP HQ.