Durham activist says she'll run for RNC post

CONCORD, N.H. -- Longtime Republican activist Wendy Stanley Jones told the Globe today that she plans to run for a recently vacated Republican National Committee seat in New Hampshire.

Jones, 50, of Durham, said she wants to be an RNC committeewoman to preserve the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary, recruit more activists, and repair the party after its worst ever defeat in the 2006 midterm elections.

The seat was vacated two weeks ago when committeewoman Nancy Merrill, of Lebanon, became a statewide co-chair for John McCain's presidential campaign. Under state party rules, those holding Republican National Committee seats have to remain neutral in the presidential primary.

Jones is a former two-term member of the Exeter Board of Selectman, only the fourth woman to be elected to that position in the town's 350-year history. She has since moved to nearby Durham where she helped start the Strafford County Federation of Republican Women chapter, a Republican women leadership group. In addition she holds several house parties for presidential candidates.

The State Republican Party has yet to set a date for an election.

Former Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin is no longer considering running for the job.