Just one week after losing her bid for state treasurer, Belmont resident Elizabeth Dionne has now set her sights on a different office: chair of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee.
She has vowed to not take a salary if elected.
“I naively thought after last Tuesday night I would have some time to do laundry, do grocery shopping, see my husband and son, and literally within 12 hours, I got a call asking if i would consider this,” Dionne said in an interview with The Voice.
In the Nov. 3 General Election, Dionne lost to incumbent Democrat Deborah Goldberg. She garnered about 33% of the vote, according to the Associated Press.
Dionne said as she traveled across the state campaigning for state treasurer, she heard from Republicans, Democrats, and independents about a desire for a strong two-party system, and specifically for some balance against the Democratic party in Massachusetts.
Prior to her run for state treasurer, Dionne was a regular face in town politics, starting as a Town Meeting member and culminating in a term on the Select Board. Her campaign focused on being a “cheerleader for local aid.”
Now, she’s turning her attention to be an advocate for the state’s Republican party. She would be filling a seat to be vacated by Amy Carnevale, who recently announced she would not be seeking reelection.
“Tuesday night’s results were devastating, but this is no time to retreat,” Dionne wrote in a statement to the press. “One-party rule hurts us all, so we must organize now to check the super-majority on Beacon Hill. As I have traveled the state, Republicans, Independents, and JFK Democrats alike have pleaded for a strengthened GOP to counter the Democrats’ left flank.”
The party’s “most pressing issue,” she said, is the party’s financial condition.
For that reason, she will donate her labor for the two-year term.
“I’m not motivated by money. My husband and i are certainly in a comfortable position,” Dionne told The Voice. “Everyone who serves locally in Belmont, nobody is making money. It sort of feels like a continuation of what I did in Belmont, where I was genuinely motivated by a desire to serve.”
In her bid for election, Dionne outlined a strategic plan that included recruiting new and retaining existing party members, identifying credible candidates and running effective campaigns, and identifying success metrics to rebuild the party’s donor base.
“Losing precious seats in the House of Representatives is painful,” she wrote. “This must not happen again. We need to identify winnable races at both the local and state level and focus our resources there.”