Maybe the Trumbull County Republican Party thrives on disharmony and disruption.

You have to go back to the 1930s to find more Republicans holding elected office in Trumbull County today after the tremendous success the party’s candidates had in the November election.

It was the second straight even-year election in which all Republican candidates won. There were considerably more countywide candidates on the ballot last year than in 2022.

During the past few years, the party has experienced more than its share of chaos with infighting among factions, party leadership not backing some Republican candidates while badmouthing them and a large number of party officers resigning.

While Julia Shutt, elected chairwoman Dec. 3, works to unify the party, she faces criticism.

Nicole Gorkie resigned as party treasurer Feb. 18, the same day that Cheryl Tennant, a former treasurer, resigned as deputy treasurer.

That wouldn’t be that noteworthy except Gorkie, who was treasurer for just three months, sharply criticized Shutt, saying her weak leadership was the reason for the resignation.

Gorkie said: “As a leader within our county, it is imperative that we exhibit strong and effective leadership. Unfortunately, I believe that we do not currently have that in Julia Shutt.”

Gorkie said Shutt has focused on “unnecessary rebranding and decorating” the party’s headquarters in Howland instead of finding Republican candidates and expanding the party.

Shutt, a landscape designer, said that the appearance of the headquarters is important, and by being inviting, it will draw people to the party.

She said: “We need to upgrade the look of the headquarters. I’d like to improve the landscaping and the entrance to make it more appealing. It’s part of the image of who we are. We want to have curb appeal and have the community stop in.”

The party has 158 central committee spots, but only a little more than half of them are filled.

Shutt said: “Between putting out fires and a number of irons in the fire, we’ve got a lot going on.”

As for the resignations, Shutt said she isn’t concerned.

“Good things will happen with change,” she said. “I came into this with an existing board. It’s good when there are openings on the board when there’s a new chair. The board is there to support me and that brings stability. It will be good for the party too. These things happen in business all the time. I’m looking for stability.”

Stability is one thing that has eluded Trumbull Republicans for the past few years.

Including two interim chairs, five people have led the party since July 2022. Remarkably, Shutt is still filling out an unexpired four-year term that doesn’t end until June 2026.

Also, between September 2021 and August 2022, eight party officers resigned, largely complaining about previous leadership.

Apparently the complaints haven’t died down despite who is in charge.

There have also been other issues that you just wouldn’t expect to occur.

The executive committee met Jan. 27 at party headquarters in Howland with Robert Carr, who owns an insurance agency and was one of the interim party chairs after Kenneth Kline resigned, got the nomination on the fifth ballot.

Shortly after the vote, Niki Frenchko, the party’s auxiliary chairwoman who sought the elections board nomination, pointed out Carr was improperly nominated at the Jan. 27 meeting by someone who doesn’t serve on the executive committee.

Text messages between the party officers were exchanged with Frenchko insisting that the error had to be corrected and Shutt and Marleah Campbell, party secretary, stating the party needed to move ahead without another vote.

Shutt texted Frenchko that “optics are important” and “as for continuing this discussion to others outside this officers’ board, I insist you stop. It is a (poor) reflection of not only you, but the board and the GOP.”

Following the party’s bylaws, Frenchko got the signatures of five executive committee members, including herself, on a Feb. 2 notice calling for a Feb. 13 meeting to hold another vote.

Two days after the notice was signed, the party officers had a meeting at headquarters.

During that meeting, a number of Republican officers accused Frenchko of throwing two large lemons at Campbell with one hitting her in the chest. Frenchko denies throwing the lemons.

Howland police were called, but no charges were filed.

Gorkie, who was at the meeting, criticized Shutt for choosing “to downplay the situation and treat it as a joke.”

At the Feb. 13 meeting, Carr was elected on the second ballot — correcting the mistake with Shutt saying, “There was no intention of misrepresenting our bylaws regarding the nominating process.”

Also, despite the tremendous momentum of the 2022 and 2024 elections that saw Republicans take over Trumbull County, little was done to recruit and support GOP candidates for municipal offices this year.

It’s going to be challenging to win in Warren, as it’s the last remaining Democratic stronghold in the county, but there are opportunities in Niles and Girard, which were once overwhelmingly Democratic cities. Between the two cities, there’s only one Republican — Dan Camuso in Girard’s 2nd Ward — seeking office.

The party did little to recruit local candidates.

When two of the Warren candidates — David Burnham for an at-large seat and Ashley McBride for the 5th Ward — were erroneously removed from the ballot, with both Republican boards of elections members voting to not certify them, it was Frenchko who filed a successful protest to have them reinstated without any assistance from party officials.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.