HUNTER SMITH/THE EXPRESS Pictured from left are co-Republicans of the Year for Clinton County: Bill Stankiewicz, Kevin Johnson and Vicki Adams.

HUNTER SMITH/THE EXPRESS
Matt Sheasley is pictured after receiving a Donald Trump-signed hat as a one-time award for his voter registration efforts in 2024.

FLEMINGON — The Clinton County Republican Party honored its members and party leaders at its annual Lincoln Day Dinner, naming Vicki Adams, Bill Stankiewicz and Kevin Johnson as co-Republicans of the Year and presenting Matt Sheasley with a special award for registering over 200 voters.

Reveling in their November electoral success, attendees of the annual Lincoln Day Dinner — a celebration and fundraiser for the party — spent the evening honoring the Republicans who helped secure their victories.

Emceeing the event, Clinton County Republican Chairman Kurt Smith opened the awards portion of the evening by recognizing party volunteers, county elected officials, first responders, veterans, law enforcement and clergy in attendance and thanking them for their support.

Before announcing the evening’s top honor — Republican of the Year — Clinton County Republican Chairman Kurt Smith presented a one-time award to Matt Sheasley for his voter registration efforts ahead of the 2024 general election.

As part of the honor, Smith presented Sheasley with a hat personally signed by President Donald Trump and a White House pen. The hat was signed the day before the election at a rally in Reading, Pa., after U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson brought the Clinton and Clarion County Republican Party chairmen to the VIP section — an experience Smith called the honor of a lifetime.

Smith described Trump as a genuine man who listened intently and eagerly signed the hat for Sheasley after learning about his efforts.

“I want to thank, first and foremost, my lord and savior, Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t have done what I got done without him,” said Sheasley while accepting the honor.

“What drove me to it was, I was sitting on the recliner just watching TV, and I just saw the country going down the drain,” he said. “Our kids aren’t going to have a country if it continues like this, so that’s what drove me to the point of getting people registered and getting people with common sense in there.”

Afterwards, Smith named the three co-Republicans of the Year, beginning with Clinton County Republican Party Election Headquarters manager Vicki Adams. She was previously named Republican of the Year in 2023.

“I am very honored and privileged to receive this award, but it also serves as a reminder to the amazing volunteers I had the privilege to work with,” said Adams who described herself as only “one piece of the puzzle.”

She said without the party’s volunteers’ total belief in having a safe environment for our families, a secure border and less government control and spending, that they would not be where they are today.

“Our volunteers gave 110 percent effort in promoting this election, working the election center, folding letters, addressing envelopes promoting candidates and having a smile for everyone entering the election – even the democrats who wanted to check us out,” she said.

She gave a special shout-out to John Wayne Meyers for his support.

“You are all part of the puzzle so you are all Republicans of the year,” said Adams to the crowd.

Bill Stankiewicz, a longtime City of Lock Haven resident, volunteer member of the Clinton County Republican Party and 2024 Republican of the Year, was announced second as this year’s co-Republican.

Echoing Sheasley, Stankiewicz said, “I give the honor to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because He inspired us all to vote with our conscience — responsibly — to vote the way we needed to vote to bring our country out of the depths it had fallen to under the previous administration.”

He also thanked everyone in the room and those who honored him with the award, adding it was a privilege getting to know everyone through his work at the election center.

“It was such a joy to meet these people every day who are so excited about doing something for our country. We rarely get the chance to do that, other than by voting,” he said. “We can be good citizens, we can pay our taxes and do the other things we have to do that are required by law, but when we vote, it’s our personal right to do that and our responsibility as Republicans and citizens.”

He said that the Lord sees their efforts and will reward them for it.

“I just do what the Lord puts on my heart to do,” he said. “Seeing the direction the county was going in, I didn’t want to stand by and let someone else do it when there was no reason I couldn’t lend a hand, help out and do what any red-blooded American would have done.”

He noted that it was a community-wide effort and that he’s simply a “cog in the wheel.”

“I am so proud to be part of a movement that begins to realize that we can chart our own destiny through the vote, and if we’re unhappy with what’s happening we can change it,” Stankiewicz said, adding that he does it for his grandson.

Finally, the party’s treasurer, Kevin Johnson, received his recognition, which he described as both unexpected and undeserved.

“Thank you very much. I really wasn’t expecting this, so I don’t have anything prepared to say,” he said.

Humbly, he stated that he didn’t feel he deserved the honor, noting that others, like Vicki and John Wayne, had done much more.

Closing out the awards, Smith said, “I hope that we all choose to serve and answer a call higher than ourselves… We have to learn to put down the remote and get out and volunteer to make a difference and save our world.”