MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Republicans honored a foster mom and a college student who volunteers as a hospice companion at their annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner on Friday.
GOP Chairman Fred Dailey presented Jennifer Snow, a long-time foster parent, Girl Scout troop leader, and small-business owner, with the 2026 Republican of the Year award.
Oliver Griffith, who splits his time between classwork and volunteer work, received the Young Republican of the Year award.
An anonymous committee within the party selected the winners.
“In both cases for the awards we’re presenting tonight, they were the first names that came up by everybody,” Dailey said.
Republican of the Year
Snow was a foster mother to 23 teenage girls for two decades.
Other community involvement includes fundraising for Christian Star Academy, coaching softball, volunteering with the Central Christian Church food pantry, and helping with IEPs (Individualized Education Plans).
Professionally, Snow launched a home-building company in 1992 and earned her Ohio real estate license in 1994. She expanded the Java Hut drive-through to five locations and now owns and manages local Airborne properties.
Snow’s political involvement began in 2000 and includes holding offices in the Knox County Republican Women. She also served as precinct location manager with the Board of Elections and on the Central Committee.
“Jennifer exemplifies servant leadership through her dedication to family, business, faith, and community,” Dailey said.
“… Few people know how hard this woman works. … She does a great job. Every chairman should be so lucky to have somebody like that to work with.”
Snow said the award is “quite the honor.”
“I don’t feel like I do any of the stuff I do because it’s a title or something,” she said. “I do it because I’m just driven to do it, and I enjoy being helpful and making things better.
“I’m very honored. … I’m very humbled. Thank you very much.”
Young Republican of the Year
When Gov. George Voinovich appointed Dailey to the Ohio cabinet in 1991, Dailey was the first Knox County resident appointed to a governor’s cabinet since the last 1940s.
“I thought that was kind of sad,” Dailey said. “Here we are with great people, great potential, and yet we just haven’t sent people down there the way some of the other counties have.”
That led Dailey to start the Young Republican of the Year award program.
Griffith attends The Ohio State University. He is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering and molecular science, has made the dean’s list through the university’s honors program. He has worked as a gene-therapy research assistant.
Griffith developed a computer program to automate government compliance as an intern with the Knox County Foundation and volunteers as a hospice patient companion.
He served on the Central Committee and as treasurer of the Knox County Republican Party for the past two years.
Griffith also worked as an election consultant designing voter-outreach software and assisted the Knox County Board of Elections with polling locations and voting-machine preparation. He is a graduate of the Patrick T. Berry Leadership Institute.
Griffith said he served as party treasurer not because he gained financially, but because the party stuck with him.
The Centerburg graduate said he had certain moral and religious values that “distinguish us in a way that go beyond just a party.”
“I hated to think of myself as politics just getting in the way of trying to be a good person in the world, but it doesn’t have to,” he said. “I found the Republican Party does the work, spends the time volunteering, and does the mission that gets us into a place that makes us better people.”
McColley rallies Republicans for Ramaswamy
Robert McColley, lieutenant governor candidate on the ticket with Vivek Ramaswamy, gave the keynote address at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. McColley is also president of the Ohio Senate.
According to McColley, politics in the Republican Party are shifting, and the voice of the small town is being represented as long as residents continue to elect conservative Republicans.
McColley said Acton stepping down as Ohio Department of Health director in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic indicated either she cannot handle the pressure of making decisions that impact Ohioans or she is unwilling to loosen “the heavy hand of government off our back.”
“The beauty of this election is there’s probably the largest contrast of any election that we’ve had for governor in this state’s history,” McColley said.
McColley said the foundation of the Ramaswamy/McColley ticket is threefold:
•Lower costs: Roll back property taxes to where they were before COVID ended; address waste, fraud and abuse; and use Ohio’s natural gas to lower energy costs.
•Bigger paychecks: Eliminate income tax, ensure training for trades for all ages — high school, graduates, and adults; return a thriving and growing economy to Ohio.
•Better schools: Return education standards such as the third-grade reading guarantee, and ensure good teachers who make an impact receive bonuses.
Lincoln-Reagan Dinner also features Edwards, Balderson
Ohio treasurer candidate Jay Edwards and Congressman Troy Balderson also addressed the group.
As a state lawmaker dealing with what he called Acton’s overreach during COVID-19, Edwards said he fought her on forced vaccinations, shutting down schools and businesses, and mask mandates.
He said the party must focus on Democratic senate candidate Sherrod Brown.
“After 47 years, the guy has now come up with all kinds of ideas that he failed to do for the 47 years that he was in [the U.S. Senate]. We can’t let him fool us,” Edwards said.
“… We’ve got to make sure we get out there and do what we can to make sure that we’re holding people accountable and educating them on why it’s so important to get John Huston across the finish line.”
Edwards said that as state treasurer, he will invest the taxpayers’ money in Ohio.
“It’s not our money, it’s not the government’s money, it’s your money. I want to make sure we take your money and be very sure we’re keeping those investments inside the state of Ohio … to our banks and credit unions and local communities,” he said.
Balderson focused on the access he has to U.S. Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno and other Republican congressional representatives. He said Ohio cannot afford to reverse that access.
“That’s not happened for a long time, and I think it’s important that we make sure that John Husted goes back there,” he said, adding that the Husted-Brown senate race will be tough.
“Do not take this election for granted. Your neighbors, everyone has to get out to vote.”
