By Megan Cullins, contributor
A Rockingham County Republican organization opted not to endorse any of the candidates who have secured the required number of signatures so far to run in this year’s District 3 school board election.
At its meeting Wednesday on the second floor of the Eagle Carpet building in south Harrisonburg, a group of the Rockingham County Republicans voted 9-7 not to endorse Hilary Irons after she appeared before the group in a question-answer format. She is the second candidate who sought but didn’t receive the group’s endorsement in the school board race for the District 3 seat, which covers Grottoes, Melrose, Keezletown, Massanetta Springs, Cross Keys, and Port Republic. While the school board race is non-partisan, political groups have, in the past, endorsed candidates.
Irons said she “felt well prepared to answer the questions and believe I did so.”
“I’m disappointed the party couldn’t come to a consensus on which conservative would best represent our values, but I’ve already received dozens of calls from fellow Republicans who would like to volunteer their time and donate funds to help,” Irons said.
Matt Cross, the incumbent school board member, went through the county party’s endorsement process in April without receiving the committee’s endorsement. The other candidate with enough signatures to be on the ballot, Lauren Mullen, has not asked for the Republican Party endorsement.
Mullen, Cross and Irons each secured the required signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot, according to the Rockingham County Registrar’s Office.
“The Rockingham County Republican Party established an endorsement policy for the 2025 election cycle to address nonpartisan local offices that our party wished to put support behind,” said Matt Dale, a member of the county’s planning commissioner and candidate for the Board of Supervisors, as he was leaving Wednesday’s meeting. “As part of the endorsement policy, there was a candidate interview and vetting stage and endorsement to vote stage.”
When asked why Irons didn’t get the endorsement, meeting attendee Brooke Garrison said, “I perceived that she represented some Democratic [Party] values.”
Irons said in no way did she represent values of the Democratic Party.
“That is a lie, which was unequivocally disproven with evidence during the course of the meeting,” she told The Citizen in an interview Thursday. “It is a strategy used by my opponent and his supporters who have proven that they are willing to lie to the public to win.”
The Rockingham County Republicans follow the values of the Virginia Republican Creed. When it comes to values that apply to local governance, the creed says: “We believe that the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and economic justice. All individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice, and opportunities, and should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society. Fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government … Faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers, is essential to the moral fiber of the nation.”
She said she believes, in this case, having a broad coalition supporting her worked against securing the organization’s endorsement.
“I was, however, accused of having people supporting me who have values aligning closer with the Democratic Party,” she said. “That’s true, I suppose, but who can blame them for wanting to support a level-headed and thoughtful adult with expertise in education regardless of whether our values align.”
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