About

If you didn't vote for me in this past Republican Primary then I hope in the next two years that I can convince you as to why you should the next time around.

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My husband, Craig Rickard, ran for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors in 2022. Our neighbor, Laura Norton, informed us that there would be two openings for Township BOD and started encouraging him to run as a resident advocate. While we only had about three months to tackle issues relevant to the voters, communication, social media, information dissemination, branding, block walking, volunteer organization, fundraising, and everything else that goes into running a successful campaign, we poured our hearts into what became a whirlwind of an adventure in getting to know the residents and their concerns regarding life in The Woodlands! Since I was no longer working outside of the home, I buckled down and learned just about everything I needed to learn about how to run a campaign through the example of an amazing individual, Susan Cochran, and found that I had a knack for the creative part of running a campaign as well as communication of information. Building websites, creating push cards, yard signs, and basically anything that needed a little creativity became a quick passion. I took to it like fish to water. While Craig did not get the position, we were amazed to see how many residents we had reached through this journey. In his first run for a local political position, Craig received just over 44% of the vote! We were speaking the voter's language and they were waking up. His journey didn't end there. While that door closed, another one opened. Craig was later appointed to our MUD 47 Board and he will be up for election this May 4th, Saturday, 2024. 

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The following year, 2023, I helped Ann Perry (another Township candidate) with her campaign to keep the Township from building a bathroom in her neighborhood park that was not wanted by the neighborhood residents. While the residents succeeded in defeating this effort, they saw the urgency in placing another more resident-focused candidate on the Township BOD. Ann ran for Position 7 on the Township Board of Directors. Everything that I learned from Craig's campaign, I applied to hers, and even extended some help to Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs who was also running for re-election to the Township BOD. Dr. Shelley's video exposing her opponent's multiple donations to Democrat Beto O'Rourke & Kristin Johnson had over 10,000 views and I grew encouraged that getting the word out was possible even at our local level!

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Fast forward to 2024.

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I didn't even take a breather. As soon as Ann's and Dr. Shelley's campaigns were over, I knew I had been bitten by the activist-bug and had to become involved. I saw the division in our Republican party on the local level and wanted to make a difference. As a newcomer, I didn't have the long history of other Republicans that had been in the fight for 10+ years. I had friends that were both super conservative and others that were more moderate to liberal leaning Republicans and saw that the fight was getting worse among our party with every election but how could I get involved without assuming a huge role that I was nervous to take on? Easy. The people that I saw working tireless days in the parking lots at polling locations were our local Precinct Chairs. These individuals were residents of Montgomery County who work on the bigger picture by focusing their efforts in their own areas: their precinct. This is where I saw how grassroot movements could bring about change and make a difference in our party. I was hooked.

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I ran for Precinct 58 chair against an opponent who worked under the Reagan Administration, was involved with the FBI, and has a good sized law enforcement family but did he personally have what it takes to be a Precinct Chair? As a candidate I wanted to show the voters that I was willing to put the work and effort into becoming our Precinct Chair NOW, not later. I created a website where our precinct could find information pertinent to their decision making WITHOUT all the trashy, mud-slinging mailers and distractions - just straight up, unbiased information with just one click. ALL of the candidates and not just the ones that I liked in one section. I didn't even mention who my personal picks were. I linked the site with our sample ballot so that voters could print it out, do their homework, pick their favorite candidates, and then come to the polls prepared. My goal was to encourage being an informed voter. "Be informed, then vote," was a logo I used on Instagram. I got on popular, user friendly, social media: Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube because I knew that a majority of our younger voters (and gen-x) get on and watch short reels. My goal was to cover all bases because while the younger generations hear almost all their news through social media, I recognized that others still enjoy the paper and appreciate websites.

 

Get the word out to get the vote UP - THAT is the goal of a Precinct Chair, and that is what I did for my campaign. Ultimately, I believe that this is what the average voter saw. Time, effort, and energy with a goal: to inform voters and to raise voter turnout, not just in our precinct but in Montgomery County without breaking the bank. What a large portion of voters saw was the personal time I put into meeting my precinct. I rode my bike, hand delivering my pushcards because I wanted to meet the voters and I wanted them to put a face with the name. I'm a stay-at-home mom with a knack for communication and a whole lot of creativity that wants to serve our cause and keep our conservative values at the center of our party without wavering.

 

It's time for a younger generation to learn from our predecessors and take up the torch. Let's gather the wisdom and humbly move forward to keep our County strong and make our State stronger from the bottom up.

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It's time to get to work and I am ready!