Ortiz Administration
(2020 - 2021)
OverviewOn July 11, 2020, CCR held a unity election open to all College Republicans. Hoping to finally unite the warring California College Republicans (CCR) and the splinter group California Federation of College Republicans (CFCR), outgoing Chairman Kimo Gandall invited both groups to participate. Both could run for office and propose constitutional amendments. CFCR actively discouraged its chapters from attending. However, members from several of their chapters ultimately showed up, and some ran for election. Nick Ortiz was elected Chairman, and the Executive Board gained four former CFCR members.
At this point, CCR viewed its unity election obligation as fulfilled and that it was the sole, legitimate College Republican organization. In actuality, several CFCR clubs still remained. In July and August 2020, a CFCR Board member endorsed the Lincoln Project through his club, Chaffey GOP. The Lincoln Project is an organization that was dedicated to defeating President Trump. CFCR removed the individual from the Executive Board to appease its remaining chapters that were upset. Some time later, though, they voted to reinstate him on the Executive Board. Will Donahue, CFCR’s Los Angeles Chair, was the sole vote against the motion. Donahue did not want to side with actions that supported the Lincoln Project, and he resigned and took most of the chapters in LA region with him to CCR. Donahue joined the CCR Board as Chief of Staff, now another former CFCR member joining the Board. In November, CFCR tagged CCR in a post on Facebook, saying, “We invite the California College Republicans to join us at our table to break bread and discuss unity, just as the Pilgrims and Native Americans did before us. We are so thankful for what our organization has accomplished and cannot wait to see what we, as a unified organization, as the California Federation of College Republicans, can achieve.” CCR interpreted this as a white flag, even though CFCR phrased their proposal as a way for CFCR to prevail as the sole organization. CCR accepted their offer to discuss unity again. CCR Chairman Nick Ortiz’s only conditions for unity were to: 1) keep the CCR name, 2) no one involved in the original split between CCR and CFCR should run for election, and 3) voting delegates should be awarded based on the amount of membership in each chapter. CFCR disagreed with the name condition and wanted each chapter to get a single vote. CCR and CFCR ultimately reached an agreement that: 1) the name of the merged organization would be voted on at the unity election, 2) no seniors were allowed to run for office (to meet the condition for the original split), and 3) delegates would be awarded based on membership but capped at 6 delegates per chapter. Shortly after this agreement, CFCR announced its candidate for Chairman, Michael Curry. Curry had been around for the original split between CCR and CFCR and was a fourth year student. CCR interpreted this as CFCR breaking the agreement on 'no seniors running.' Curry and CFCR attempted to claim that Curry’s transcripts showed he was still a junior, despite being a 4th year. CCR was unwilling to budge on allowing Curry’s candidacy, believing CFCR was attempting to play tricks with the election. As it was, the new delegate allotment system favored CFCR by placing a cap of 6 delegates per chapter. Negotiations paused, and CFCR ultimately left the table and held their own convention, electing Michael Curry their Chairman. After this, CCR continued forward, operating under the policy that the original unity election in July 2020 still stood and CFCR was illegitimate. With CFCR unwilling to unify peacefully, CCR took to approaching individual chapters, winning over many former CFCR clubs. CCR ultimately grew its membership to 31 chapters and over 2,000 members, dwarfing CFCR. The Ortiz Admin was also able to raise $21,000 to CFCR's $13,000. Following this growth and financial success, CCR was also able to get verified on Twitter, something only .1 percent of Twitter users achieve. This was a major boost in CCR's legitimacy. This ultimately helped sway more CFCR chapters or unchartered chapters into CCR's column. Two weeks before the end of the Ortiz Admin, in late June 2021, the first chapter that had dechartered from CCR in the movement that formed CFCR, Cal State Fullerton, made the decision to rejoin CCR. This move unified all Orange County College Republicans under the CCR banner. This was a major win for CCR and marked the death nell of the CFCR splinter group. The Ortiz Admin, besides helping to end the CCR/CFCR conflict, was also known as one of the most conservative CCR Administrations in history. Ortiz and his Board were heavily pro-Trump and pro-America First policies, heavily pro-life, heavily pro-gun, and more. In fact, under Ortiz, CCR emerged as the leader of the Trump Wing of the entire California Republican Party. Chairman Ortiz opted not to seek reelection and instead step back into the role of Activism Director for the 2021-2022 term. OfficersIn no particular order:
Nick Ortiz, Chairman (2020 - 2021) Arielle Spotswood, Co-Chair (2020 - 2021) S.R., Executive Director (2020 - 2021) Jose Luis Villarreal II, Secretary (2020 - 2021) Patrick Grace, Treasurer (2020 - 2021) Will Donahue, Chief of Staff (2020 - 2021), Secretary (2021 - 2021) Dylan Martin, Communications Director (2018 - 2021), Acting-National Committeeman (2021 - 2021) Stephen Sills, Bay Area Vice Chair (2020 - 2021) Alex Arevalo, Capitol Vice Chair (2020 - 2021) Spencer Lindquist, Central Coast Vice Chair (2020 - 2021) Anthony Mansfield, Southern Vice Chair (2020 - 2021), Advocate General (2021 - 2021) Sydni Weller, Central Valley Vice Chair (2020 - 2020) Tadhg McInerney, Central Valley Vice Chair (2021 - 2021) Michelle Ohanian, Los Angeles Vice Chair (2020 - 2021) AchievementsCampaigningMade hundreds of thousands of phone calls for Republican candidates and ballot propositions. This help was pivotal in the election of Michelle Steel and Young Kim, which flipped two House seats in Orange County. Mike Garcia and “No on Prop 15” also benefited from CCR’s help, with CCR providing the Garcia team with their best phone banking day of the campaign.
CCR also sent 15 members — from 7 different chapters — to Georgia, and knocked over 7,000 doors for the Senate runoff campaigns. The organization also deployed to collect signatures for the recall of radical Democrat city councilwoman Cori Schumacher in Carlsbad. Chief of Staff Will Donahue acted as head campaign coordinator. Pro-LifeChairman Ortiz, Chief of Staff Will Donahue, and Communications Director Dylan Martin pushed for CCR to stand for life with the following:
Second AmendmentAdvocate General Anthony Mansfield pushed CCR to defend the Second Amendment more with the following actions as a result:
BLM, Racism
Other Media
Branding, Website, and Social Media
SpeakersHosted:
FundraisingRaised over $21,000 to keep CCR operating smoothly.
Chapter AssistanceHelped fund and send 3 clubs — over 10 students — to CPAC to hear President Trump speak.
Brought Back In-Person EventsHosted Convention 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Treasure Island Hotel. Convention included a lunch banquet and guest speakers Jessica Patterson, Hon. Carl DeMaio, Congressman Paul Gosar, and Ambassador Richard Grenell.
|