New county GOP leader looks to boost turnout
As the new leader of the Butler County Republican Committee of Pennsylvania, Stacey Palmer wants to introduce a new motto for the local party: “Every year, twice a year.”
The motto, she said, reflects her desire to focus on voter turnout as Pennsylvanians head toward a crucial 2026 midterm election.
“My hope is that I really want the committee to be voter facing in the sense that our primary goal is to get out the vote for Republican candidates in Butler County,” Palmer said. “The Democrats are very successful at getting their people out to vote, even if there’s not much on the ballot. That’s my focus, is increasing the number of super voters inside Butler County.”
Palmer was named chair of the Butler County Republican Committee of Pennsylvania in mid-December after the previous chairman, Jim Hulings, resigned. Palmer grew up in St. Louis, and met her husband, who was from Pittsburgh, while attending law school at Notre Dame. She was classmates with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She went on to work in Pittsburgh at the Reed Smith law firm for 17 years.
Palmer has been involved with the county’s Republican leadership in recent years. She was first elected as a party committeewoman for Adams Township in 2024 and held the position of internal vice chair prior to becoming the leader.
She takes on the role at a time where the GOP has shown strength in Butler County making up over half its registered voters.
As of Dec. 29, Butler County has 82,679 Republican registered voters, out of 142,387 total registered voters, according to the bureau of elections — roughly 58%.
That compares to under 39,000 Democratic-registered voters, and around 28,000 with separate affiliation.
Currently, Butler County only has Republican representation in the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives. And in the past four presidential elections, the Republican candidate has won at least 65% of Butler County’s vote.
Despite the strong results in Butler County, Palmer expressed a desire to continue building up the party’s apparatus and outreach efforts.
“The goal is to be efficient and impactful,” Palmer said.
Palmer wants the party to focus on reaching the voters, not only to get them to vote for its candidates, but to serve as a resource for its voters too.
“I want the Butler County Republican Committee, via in person, online, to be a resource for all Republicans in Butler County, whether they need information about candidates, so they can vote the correct way, the way they want in the primaries.” she said. “If they want to get involved, whether that be working inside the polls on election day, we can point them in the right direction about being a poll worker or inspector of elections. If they want to work for candidates or contribute money. Whatever it is, we want to be the go-to to help them get involved.”
Hulings said though it was time for him to retire, he’s satisfied with the direction of the party and the state he leaves it in.
“For a couple years, I’ve worked very hard to bring groups together and we accomplished that,” Hulings said. “I was planning an exit strategy because I’m 81, and this is like a 40-hour work week. After everything with (President Donald) Trump and the past election, we got a lot of good done. We got good people elected. It was just about time for someone else to take over.”
The Butler County Republican Committee of Pennsylvania is part of the GOP’s official structure. It gets its power from the Pennsylvania Republican Party, which get’s its power from the Republican National Committee.
The county party will be involved with voter turnout events and organization later in 2026 as the general election campaign ramps up with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro running for reelection against the Republican nominee, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
Moving forward, Palmer wants to make sure party members’ voices are heard, and candidates are running who excite them. People are more likely to vote for candidates who they’re excited about and feel are working for them, she said.
“We represent the people. We are supposed to be a voice of the people. If we talk to a Republican-elected official, we’re representing the base. And that’s our role, is to lobby, to help recruit candidates to run. But when we also talk to elected officials, help them understand where the base is on certain issues,” Palmer said.
