CUMBERLAND COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where can I visit the Cumberland County GOP headquarters?

The Cumberland County Republican Headquarters opened in November 2023. The CCGOP Executive Board has reached out to leaders in our community to ask for sponsorships. We now have 6 wonderful sponsors! Congressman Richard Hudson, Congressman David Rouzer, Senator Tom McInnis, NC House 43 Rep Diane Wheatley, Judge John Tyson, and Dr. Linda McAlister. Our office furniture, including desks, chairs, and conference tables were loaned to us by Judge John Tyson. Having sponsors has significantly reduced our costs and allowed our staff and volunteers to conduct critical community outreach to bring more citizens into the party as well as conducting essential training and fundraising efforts. The staff and great Republican volunteers have already been working throughout the county reaching out to local voters and conducting essential planning activities. CCGOP Headquarters is open 3 days a week through February. We are preparing to fully staff our headquarters to be open 6 days a week beginning in March. You can contact CCGOP Chairman, Nina Morton at: [email protected] for any questions or assistance. Please note, CCGOP does not have paid staff and are a strictly volunteer-led organization. 

 If you would like to be involved as a CCGOP volunteer now or in the future, please reach out to Nina Morton at [email protected] or contact us at (910) 339-2011.  You may also volunteer by accessing the CCGOP website at:  https://cumberland.nc.gop.

The CCGOP Executive Board is working to ensure information is disseminated throughout the community.

I’m with a media outlet. How can I be granted access for an interview with the CCGOP?

Please submit all media inquiries by calling: 910-885-4240 or 910-339-2011.  Please note that because we are staffed only by volunteers and we are busy conducting essential community efforts to ensure Republican Party principles are being disseminated to area citizens. 

Are there ways to get involved in my neighborhood?

Absolutely! With more than 70+ county precincts, it is essential that we use volunteer citizens that live in the community neighborhoods to contact our current and potential Republicans within each precinct. We do this through Precinct Chairs. We are currently building our Precinct Chair roster and once each Chair is identified and trained, they will actively engage their communities. Volunteers are also needed to help with voter registration booths. We privide tents and registration forms. We are currently reaching out to Republicans in Cumberland County to help man the CCGOP Headquarters. You can pick the day and time you'd like to help. To volunteer, please contact CCGOP Chair, Nina Morton at:  ninamorton.[email protected].

 ELECTION FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Will the CCGOP recommend whom I vote for?

We will provide awareness of Republican Party candidates running for office during the primary. You can also see a complete list of Republican candidates by visiting:  https://vt.ncsbe.gov and click on “Sample Ballot”.  On this site, you’ll also find a wealth of information to include County Board of Elections Information, One-Stop Voting sites, Polling Place Search, and a Voter Search where you can identify voting information about yourself to include your voter details such as your Voter Registration Number, Date of Voter Registration, and other info.  You will be able to identify your Election Day Polling Site, your Voter History, and a myriad of other information.  If you encounter individuals that don’t know if they are a registered voter or not, provide them the website information above. We highly recommend you research all of the candidates for yourself or come to one of our local club meetings to hear from the candidates directly!  Finally, during General Elections, the CCGOP will often provide Candidate Slate Cards that identify all the Republican Candidates that are running for office.  Poll volunteers will often pass out these cards at polling sites.

How do I early vote?

During elections, primary and general elections, the public will be made aware of early voting periods, times and locations. Please note that you can only vote for the ballot for the Party that you are registered for (those unaffiliated voters may only choose 1 ballot – either the Republican or the Democrat – not both). All registered Cumberland County voters can vote at any of the early voting sites, not just the location closest to your residence.

Where do I vote and how do I see a sample ballot?

To find your precinct, view your sample ballot and other important voting information, please visit https://vt.ncsbe.gov, enter your information and click sample ballots. Please note that we do not coordinate volunteers at early voting and Election Day sites for primary elections. Please directly contact the candidate(s) of your choice if you would like to help during a primary election.

MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS:

Why does the Republican Party use an Elephant as its logo?

Elephants…strong, dignified, and harmless when calm, but unstoppable when threatened!

The Republican Party uses the elephant as an official logo and you will find it all over their web site and on plenty of official Republican merchandise, all thanks to Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist with Harper’s Weekly in 1862. Nast’s cartoons were very popular and his depiction is still the most widely used version of the holiday icon.  

What does GOP stand for?

 Grand Old Party!  The initials synonymous with the Republican Party (GOP) stand for “Grand Old Party.”  As early as the 1870’s, politicians and newspapers began to refer to the Republican party as both the “grand old party” and the “gallant old party” to emphasize its role in preserving the Union during the Civil War. The Republican Party of Minnesota, for instance, adopted a platform in 1874 that it said, “guarantees that the grand old party that saved the country is still true to the principles that give it birth.”

 In spite of its nickname, though, the “grand old party” was only a mere teenager in the early 1870’s since the Republican Party had been formed in 1854 by former Whig Party members to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories.

 The “grand old party” moniker was actually first adopted by the Republicans’ elder rival—the Democratic Party, which traced its roots back to Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.  In his 1859 inaugural address, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Beriah Magoffin proclaimed, “The grand old party has never changed its name, its purposes, or its principles, nor has it ever broken its pledges.” The following year a Democratic newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut, looked ahead to the presidential election of 1860 and warned that “this grand old party is divided and in danger of defeat.”

The Republican’s GOP acronym began to appear in print in 1884. Newspapers in 1936 credited T.B. Dowden, a Cincinnati Gazette typesetter, with coining the initials after receiving a story about 1884 Republican presidential nominee James Blaine shortly before press time that ran too long. “My copy ends with ‘Grand Old Party,’ and I have two words left over after I’ve set the 10 lines. What shall I do?” Dowden asked his foreman. “Abbreviate ’em, use initials, do anything, but hurry up!” came the reply. In a rush, Dowden shortened the name of Blaine’s planned speech from “Achievements of the Grand Old Party” to “Achievements of the GOP.”