Trumbull County Commissioner Denny Malloy, who lost reelection in the Republican primary, said he is committed to running for county GOP chairman, setting up a contest between him and Jim Dunlap, the party’s first vice chairman.

Malloy said: “I’ll be honored to lead the party. I’m up to the task. I love this county and the direction it’s going. I can serve the public well in this new capacity.”

The party’s central committee will meet June 4 to select a new chairman as well as a slate of other officers.

Chairwoman Julia Shutt said May 19 she wouldn’t seek reelection as she was tired of the infighting and friction between the “warring factions” that has plagued the party for years despite tremendous recent success, including winning every contested race on the 2022 and 2024 ballots.

Trumbull Republicans have selected three different chairs during the current four-year term won June 10, 2022, by Kenneth Kline with two others, including Dunlap, serving as interim leaders until elections occurred to select replacements. Shutt was elected Dec. 3, 2024, to the rest of the term.

Malloy said his “goal is to unify the party against a common enemy,” meaning Democrats.

Addressing the party infighting, Malloy said, we “don’t have to go to birthday parties for each other’s kids.

The quarterback doesn’t have to like the wide receiver, but he better catch the ball when it’s thrown to him.”

Malloy said he believes he has enough votes of the central committee members to get elected next week.

Among Malloy’s priorities, if elected chairman, are to convince Republicans in the county with money to get more involved and contribute financially to the party, and to lean on his relationships with GOP chairmen in nearby counties to stabilize the Trumbull Republicans.

“With me as chairman, we’ll be able to move the party into a stronger position,” Malloy said.

Dunlap said he is running for chairman to “save the party from the subversive faction that has caused so much trouble and infighting for at least the last five years.” Dunlap identified Malloy as part of that faction.

Dunlap, a central committee member since 2013, said he’s been involved with the party “because I believe in constitutional conservatism and want to be among those who push back against the lunacy of the left.”

In a letter to central committee members, Dunlap wrote his priorities as chairman are to have weekly office hours at the party’s headquarters to answer questions and listen to suggestions, invite “comments and ideas from the whole party, not just a select group,” engage central and executive committee members before party meetings to get input, allow Republican candidates running in the primary to speak at a central committee meeting before that election, form a legislative liaison committee, invite back members who became inactive because of the infighting, and “aggressively promote” all party events and fundraisers.

Dunlap criticized Malloy for not joining the Republican Party until 2022, two years after he lost a county commissioner’s race as an independent, and saying he is not a “true convert to conservatism.”