LOWELL — With the March 5 presidential primary in less than a week and early voting underway, the Republican presidential ticket seems to still have some competition, at least on paper.

On the Republican ballot there will be down-ballot races as well, including the race for the Republican state committeewoman for the Worcester & Middlesex District. The state committees for each of the two major political parties in Massachusetts are 80-member bodies consisting of one man and one woman from each of the state’s 40 state Senate districts, acting in essence as the governing body of the party within the state.

Running for Republican state committeewoman for Worcester & Middlesex District are Beth Lindstrom, 62, of Groton, and incumbent Kathleen Lynch, 61, of Westford.

Lindstrom’s career in politics began in 1987, when she began working with the state’s Republican Party, and would later serve as the party’s first woman executive director during the administration of former Gov. Bill Weld. She was also the first woman director of the Massachusetts State Lottery, and served as the director of consumer affairs and business regulation under the administration of former Gov. Mitt Romney.

Lindstrom worked in Weld’s original campaign for governor in 1990, as well as former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s successful bid for the Senate in 2010. She was also the president of the super PAC formed to help elect former Gov. Charlie Baker. In 2018 she made a run for the U.S. Senate, but fell short in the Republican primary against Geoff Diehl, who would then lose in the general election to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She also has a career as an entrepreneur, and runs a salon and day spa in Groton.

Despite the success some Republicans have had being elected to office in Massachusetts in the past, Lindstrom said 2024 is a very different story for the party.

“Massachusetts Republicans are on the verge of being considered a fringe party,” said Lindstrom. “I was there when we were able to turn things around for the party in this state before, and I do think we can do it again.”

To Lindstrom, the Republican Party in Massachusetts has a branding problem, and to solve that problem the party should focus on issues that affect the majority of voters.

“We need to go in a direction that welcomes people into the party, and makes them proud to be a Republican,” said Lindstrom.

The focus, she said, should be on fiscal issues, rather than the social issues that seem to dominate the headlines.

“People care about kitchen economics. Issues like immigration are also polling high. We need to be able to run on issues that people want, not the things that divide us,” said Lindstrom. “Republicans that win here tend to run on personal liberties while staying away from social issues. Then we get to just talk about economics.”

If she were to win, Lindstrom said she wants to see the party properly organize Republican town committees, and to take a good look at where, and how, the party has a good chance of winning in a mostly left-leaning state.

“You just don’t have enough Republican voters to get people elected here. You need to be attractive to the unenrolled voters. That is something my opponent doesn’t seem to focus on, when it really is the secret sauce,” said Lindstrom.

Unenrolled voters make up about 60% of the state’s voting population.

Lynch is in her first term as Republican state committeewoman, having first been elected in 2020. She has served as the chair of the party’s Elections Review Committee, and served on the Issues and Public Relations committees. She also has experience as a delegate and as the chief of tally operations for the state’s Republican State Conventions. In Westford, she served as the chair of the Republican Town Committee for five years.

In 2018 Lynch made an unsuccessful bid for state representative for the 2nd Middlesex District, falling short in the general election to state Rep. James Arciero. She is currently on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Republican Assembly, and spent three years as the regional field director for the Renew Massachusetts Coalition.

“As a Republican state committeewoman, I introduced a number of resolutions to the Massachusetts Republican State Committee to support voter identification; to end the too-long Covid shutdown of businesses, churches and schools; to make masks optional; and to prevent a vaccine passport. All of these resolutions passed,” said Lynch, who provided all of her responses to The Sun by email. “I was instrumental in the successful ballot initiatives to prevent ranked choice voting and to prevent a transportation and climate initiative (TCI) tax in Massachusetts. I signed and organized others to sign candidate nomination papers and ballot initiatives such as repealing drivers licenses for illegal aliens, auditing the legislature, and stopping taxpayer funding of abortion.”

Lynch acknowledged the recent lack of Republican success in the state, and said that if she is reelected to her seat, she will continue to work to push for more Republicans to run for office.

“Massachusetts needs more Republicans in office. The legislature is disproportionately balanced,” said Lynch. “I will continue to recruit, guide, and elect Republicans to office. I have organized candidate signature collections, fundraisers, and standouts. It’s very gratifying to see hard work rewarded with good Republicans taking their merited seats.”

To do so, she said she and the party need to start locally.

“I will continue to spend time working to build the Republican base of town and city committees and voters. I will continue informing voters about civic matters such as how government works, how to stand up for their rights, and how they can get involved,” said Lynch.

Voting for the Worcester & Middlesex District Republican state committeewoman seat will take place on the Republican ballot for the March 5 presidential primary for voters in that state Senate district. The Worcester & Middlesex District consists of Fitchburg, Leominster, Clinton, Lancaster and Lunenburg in Worcester County, and Ashby, Groton, Shirley, Townsend and Westford in Middlesex County.