CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The director of faith engagement for the Republican National Committee says he’ll return to West Virginia, several times in the coming year, to help Republicans claim the open U.S. Senate seat.
“To be in the best position to win the White House in 2016, we’ve got to get people of faith out to vote and win the U.S. Senate in 2014 and then turn this whole debacle around. That’s why I’m here,” said Chad Connelly on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Earlier this year, Connelly left his role as chairman of South Carolina’s Republican Party to join the “Growth and Opportunity Project” the GOP launched following losses in the 2012 General Election.
The new Republican strategy includes reaching out to younger voters and religious voters.
“I’m going to talk to them about finding out what people really believe in and what they stand for and then vote your values,” said Connelly of his plans mobilize people of faith for conservative causes.
“I’m going to be doing a voter registration push like we’ve never done before. I’ll be back here real soon to do pastors’ luncheons and I just want to help them overcome those questions marks of, can I do this?”
Connelly, a devout Southern Baptist, said he is focused on ten states where Republicans can gain U.S. Senate seats.
In West Virginia, U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, is not seek reelection. The likely frontrunners to replace him are Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, a Democrat.