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About Our Party

The Republican Party in the Virgin Islands is the Republican National Committee state party for territory of the Virgin Islands.

Chairman John Yob

Republican Party Chairman John Yob began his political career in College Republicans at the University of Michigan and quickly rose up the ranks to serve as national executive director and general chairman of the College Republican National Committee.  

After College Republicans, he utilized his technology expertise to establish one of the first CATI systems on the Republican side and quickly grew a multi-million dollar business in the polling and data acquisition space. Yob utilized that technology to help build a grassroots recruitment funnel that led to domination at state conventions across the country. He has run conventions in roughly 30 states across the country.

Yob later set up a general consulting firm in 2002 that still runs races today and has elected numerous governors, U.S. senators, and congressmen.  He now owns roughly 25 companies in the political space that do roughly $150 million per cycle in business.  

In 2015, Yob moved to St. John with his wife and two children. He owns a number of hospitality businesses on St. John and St. Croix that employ hundreds of people in the  Virgin Islands. He is the biggest employer on St. John and in Frederiksted on St. Croix.

National Committeeman  Johann (John) A. Clendenin

Lieutenant Colonel The Honorable Johann (John) A. Clendenin, a sixth-generation native of St. Croix, is the Republican national committeeman for the Virgin Islands.

Having enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1971, he retired in 2009 as a lieutenant colonel.

Clendenin, who was chairman of the Virgin Islands delegation to the 2012 Republican National Convention, also served as Virgin Islands public service commissioner following a gubernatorial appointment to the regulatory agency in 2014.

National Committeewoman 

April Newland

National Committeeman-elect 

John Yob

Vice Chairman for St. Thomas-St. John

April Newland

Vice Chairman for St. Croix

Michael Meluskey

Secretary

Barbara de la Portilla

Treasurer

Alexandra Bonthron

Deputy Treasurer

Kyle Hogendyk

Executive Director

Dennis Lennox

Republican State Committee Members

Alexandra Bonthron of St. Thomas-St. John

Major Vanessa Mull Coffen of St. Croix

Jameson (Chip) Engelhard of St. Croix

Nate Fletcher of St. Thomas-St. John.

Krystal Flores of St. Croix

Andrea Hedrington of St. Thomas-St. John

Michael Meluskey of St. Croix

Valerie Stiles of St. Croix

Randolph Thomas of St. Thomas-St. John

David Weisher of St. Thomas-St. John

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