Westmoreland GOP retains top leaders

With recent successes at the ballot box and increases on the voter registration rolls, Westmoreland County Republicans voted to keep the party’s leadership team in place for another two years.

GOP committee members gathered at Hempfield Park on Thursday and reelected, without opposition, the party’s executive team for a second term as Republicans look ahead to this fall’s races for governor and U.S. senator.

Bill Bretz, 50, of Hempfield will remain party chairman.

“We have now had several years of gaining ground and ultimately taking the majority in Westmoreland County. We need to continue that momentum,” Bretz said.

Bretz has served as a GOP committee member since 2016. He was elected township supervisor in Hempfield last fall.

Jon Wian, the chief of staff to Republican Commissioner Sean Kertes, was reelected as the committee’s vice chairman. Gabe Homan will again serve as committee treasurer.

After decades of being the minority party in Westmoreland County, Republicans started a slow ascent in the 2000s with modest gains in voter registration and election victories. The party in 2011 for the first time in a half-century won a majority on the county’s board of commissioners and swept five row office positions.

Republicans hold every elected office in the courthouse other than one seat on the county’s board of commissioners, which is designated by state law for a member of the county’s minority party.

The GOP will seek to retain its majority in the commissioners’ office and four other row office seats in 2023.

In the past decade, Republicans have solidified the party’s dominance in local politics and in 2019 became the majority party in the county, accounting for about 48% of registered voters.

There are more than 120,000 registered Republican voters in Westmoreland — holding a 25,000 lead over registered Democrats.