State Sen. Greg Rothman wins the Pa. GOP chair race after a ‘family feud’

State Sen. Greg Rothman won an election to become the new chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

Rothman, 58, won 248-120 in a vote of Republican state party committee members at a meeting in East Pennsboro on Saturday, defeating Bill Bachenberg, a Lehigh Valley business owner and longtime ally of President Donald Trump.

Rothman represents Perry County and parts of Cumberland and Dauphin Counties. He is a real estate broker and has served in the state Senate for two years, where he chairs the Game and Fisheries Committee. He previously served in the state House for seven years and in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for 10 years, and led the Cumberland County GOP.

He said Monday that his focus as chair will be party unity.

“We want the Republican Party to celebrate our incredible success that we had in November and build on it, and the way we do it is be united, and that was a message that resonated with a vast majority of the committee,” he said. “And a lot of the calls and texts and emails I’m getting and returning are from people that want to be part of that, and may not have supported me on Saturday, but are ready to support me now and work all together.”

Rothman will replace Lawrence Tabas, 71, the longtime general counsel for the party who became chair in 2019.

Support poured in for Rothman last year after Tabas announced he wouldn’t run again, including from Sen. Dave McCormick, who was already showing his powerful influence in the party. Rothman, who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary but has more recently aligned with the president, was poised to compete with Ted Christian, a longtime Trump ally who garnered support from several early Trump supporters.

But Christian dropped out of the race, clearing the way for Rothman until another longtime Trump ally, Bill Bachenberg, announced his own bid.

Bachenberg, who supported Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has been an outspoken critic of the state party and championed himself as a grassroots Republican. His entry into the race created division and tension within the state party.

But even so, Rothman is taking over the state party while it’s riding high following Republican successes in Pennsylvania in the 2024 election.

Matthew Lamorgese, the chair of the Philadelphia Young Republicans, said he expects lingering tension to go away soon, and called it a “family feud.”

“When it’s all over, everybody comes together and continues to work to elect Republican candidates,” he said.

Lamorgese praised Rothman and said he believes he’ll prioritize party growth.

“I had a number of great conversations with him about it … and he’s committed to bringing more young people into the party,” Lamorgese said. “So I think you’ll see a focus there, a focus on young Republicans and a focus on bringing people into the party.”

Rothman also said he isn’t concerned about the divided vote getting in the way of party unity.

“We’re going to do the things we promise to do, which is to work together with the grassroots and the party people and the elected officials and the donors, all working together to build the Republican Party,” he said.