Thank you to everyone who joined us at the 2024 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. Arlington Republicans had a successful presidential election cycle in 2024, and we’re gearing up for an active gubernatorial cycle in 2025.

Here are selected photos from our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner:

Award Recipients

The Delyannis-Finta Award is named for Leonidas T. and Georgia L. Delyannis and Frances Finta, who were very involved in Arlington’s civic infrastructure and in the Arlington County Republican Committee. Both Georgia L. Delyannis and Frances Finta ran for office as Republicans.

With that in mind, the Delyannis-Finta Award for Distinguished Community Involvement goes to our 2024 Candidate for County Board — Juan Carlos Fierro.

Juan Carlos Fierro once again carried our Republican banner on the ballot this year. After his initial run in 2023, Juan Carlos made his case to voters a second time — coming in second in a four-way field ahead of one perennial candidate and a first-time candidate representing a new political party in Arlington.

With help from the Arlington GOP, Juan Carlos Fierro gave Arlington voters an alternative to the failed status quo in our community — and his candidacy gave us a reason to send our most ambitious voter communication in a generation.

Without Juan Carlos on the ballot this year, it would have been difficult to make the case to mail sample ballots to 25,000 households across Arlington — the second major investment in a five-year strategy to change the political climate in Arlington.

The Hilda Griffith Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service is named for one of the longest-serving members of the Arlington County Republican Committee. Hilda Griffith marched as a suffragette, worked for every Republican presidential candidate from Warren G. Harding to George H.W. Bush, and served as a member of the Arlington GOP from 1935 until 1991.

Frank Lusby, Bob Cambridge, John Sellmansberger, and the ENTIRE election integrity team — from poll watchers to Republican-affiliated election officials — deserve this award for their fierce dedication to ensuring a free and fair election in Arlington.

Frank established Arlington GOP’s election integrity efforts after the 2020 election, and it has been the most robust of our auxiliary efforts ever since.

In 2025, the Arlington GOP will focus on building out additional efforts — from candidate recruitment to policy to community engagement — and I hope those efforts are as robust as what Frank and his team have built out over the last few years.

Alice Elizabeth Sayre, for whom the Alice Sayre Commonwealth Club Award is named, worked as editor and bureau chief with the Central Intelligence Agency’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service.

Ms. Sayre served as regent of the National Federation of Republican Women and was a member of both the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle and the Arlington County Republican Party before her passing in 1995.

Recipients of the Alice Sayre Commonwealth Club Award are recognized for distinguished support of the Arlington County Republican Committee and its candidates.

This year’s award recipients are Mike and Pat Hines, who stepped up in a big way to help fund Arlington GOP’s aggressive sample ballot effort, and David Gordon’s Virginia Project, whose efforts on Twitter/X allowed us to raise sufficient funds for the federal component of our sample ballot mailing in the last weekend of Early Voting.

Longtime members Mike and Pat made a significant contribution to the Arlington GOP early in the cycle to support our efforts, giving us the “seed money” to make our largest investment in targeted voter outreach.

And when the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) told us we needed federal campaign resources to pay for half of our sample ballot mailing, David Gordon’s Virginia Project helped us raise nearly $7,000 on Twitter/X — most of which came from first-time donors to the Arlington GOP.

With their combined support — and contributions from HUNDREDS of Republican donors (most of whom live right here in Arlington) — the Arlington GOP has raised nearly DOUBLE what we raised last year.

Here are selected photos from the event:

Thanks to everyone who volunteered, donated, or otherwise contributed to our efforts this cycle. And thanks especially to our Host Committee for tomorrow night’s event: 

Platinum Sponsors
Mike & Pat Hines
Matthew Hurtt
The Virginia Project

Gold Sponsor
Elanor Capuano
Taft Blackburn
Dominick Schirripa

Silver Sponsors
William Bernhardt
Larry Cirignano
Linc Cummings & Marti Klein
Jim & Stephanie Derrig
Juan Carlos Fierro
Ramona Hazera
William Layer
Dana Leavitt
David Platte
Rich Samp
Patricia Schmid
George Stickels
Frederick Tarantino

Don’t forget to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter/X, or Nextdoor — we’re working diligently to get our message in front of as many people as possible, and your support for our social media efforts helps a lot.

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