Dear Fellow Fairfax County Republicans,
What a year of highs and lows! From the high of seeing President Trump inaugurated, with his wave of executive orders, cuts to wasteful spending, and peace deals, to the low of Virginians choosing Jay Jones over Jason Miyares—this has been quite the year to be a Fairfax Republican.
Remember—when you vote for any candidate, you are not choosing a spouse or a pastor. You are simply identifying the person who you believe will best represent your values. So let’s give our candidates—all of our candidates—a little grace. There is truly no harder or more thankless job than running for office. We should all be grateful for those who are willing to do it so that we don’t have to!
Having said that, I am going to ask you all to brace yourselves, because this is shaping up to be a year of non-stop voting. The Democrats still insist on 45 days of early voting for most elections and no excuse absentee ballots, even though the Covid crisis is long behind us. This not only places tremendous demand on all the volunteers and election officers who work these elections, but it is also a huge cost to taxpayers—an issue that never seems to factor into Democrat thinking.
Here are the elections we already know about, and I expect there may be more announced:
Why do I mention this now? Because each one of us has a decision to make: are we in or are we out? Will we step up and fight for what we believe in, for the principles on which this country was founded, or are we going to give up in apathy or look for real estate in Texas or Florida?
I, for one, am not leaving. And I am grateful to the many people who have expressed their support for the Fairfax GOP and who are digging in deeper for the fight. Many Virginians are about to experience a painful wake-up, and we will be there ready to welcome them when they realize the Democrats are only making their lives worse.
One story that impacted me when I was living in post-Communist Hungary was the biography of the Hungarian economist Janos Kornai. He explained that he was drawn to the Communist Party as a young man because they did not care that he was Jewish, and because he believed the Communists would provide for the poor and oppressed. But little by little he woke up to reality. He heard from friends who came back from communist prisons with tales of deprivation, torture, and death. He wrote, “My earlier view of the world was shaken when its ethical foundations collapsed.” He finally had to conclude it was communism itself that was at fault: “…There was something fatally wrong with the system itself.”
Every day brings us news that there is something fatally wrong with the Democratic party: criminals are elevated above victims; illegal immigrants are elevated above citizens; graft and corruption are rampant in the quest for power. We saw the corruption and insider dealing of USAID and other agencies that DOGE revealed; we are seeing more of that now in Minnesota. Who knows where else their corruption will be exposed? We are seeing that the types of voter fraud many of us suspected was in fact happening in Fulton, Georgia, and elsewhere.
We have woken up to this….it may just take some of our fellow Virginians a little longer. We will be ready. We are working hard on rethinking how we can reach voters—through better outreach, voter registration, microtargeting, building out our volunteer army, and upping our fundraising. We have a plan, and we hope you will be a part of it, because if I have learned anything in these past two years since serving as your Chair, it is that hearts and minds are not won with mailers or yard signs. Those things are important, and we won’t stop with those, but they are not enough. Hearts are won through person-to-person engagement. It is slow and labor-intensive, but this is what it takes, which is why we need you with us.
If you love this country and want to see it survive for future generations, now is the time to dig deep and think about how you can help your fellow Virginians understand that the path they are on leads to destruction. Don’t assume that people understand. As the economist Milton Friedman complained, it is a perennial mystery “why collectivism, with its demonstrated record of producing tyranny and misery, is so widely regarded as superior to individualism, with its demonstrated record of producing freedom and plenty.” He then wrote, by way of explanation, “The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it is an immediate emotional argument. The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated…” This is what we are up against.
The Democrat promises of welfare and social programs and government spending and going easy on criminals all have obvious emotional appeal. But they lead to corruption. They rot the soul. They destroy lives. And ultimately, they will destroy our country. That is why it is on us to stand strong for what we know to be true. This fight isn’t just about victory—if it was, we’d be like to Democrats and go to any lengths to win. It is about our principles and our values, what we know to be true and good.
So as this year ends, I ask you to join with me in continuing to fight for our beloved America and Fairfax County. Our candidates are going to need lots of help in the year ahead. Let’s be ready to support them. And I would ask you to support the Fairfax GOP so that we can continue to be a bulwark against corruption and collectivism.
Let’s show each other and the world that Fairfax Republicans are energized, organized, and ready to fight for lower taxes, safer communities, better education not soaked in ideological rot, and limited government.
Your gift right now — whether it’s $25, $50, $100, or more — will go directly into:
🗳️ Candidate recruitment for Congress and local races 📞 Voter contact programs to reach every Republican in Fairfax 📣 Holding Democrats like Spanberger, McKay, Descano, and the School Board accountable.
You can donate securely online at fairfaxgop.org/donate or mail a check to Fairfax County Republican Committee, 4246 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Wishing you a very blessed 2026.
Katie Gorka
Chair, Fairfax County Republican Committee