Floyd County PAC to support Republican candidates

Jan. 2—FLOYD COUNTY — A political action committee is focusing its efforts on supporting Republican candidates in 2024.

Nick Vaughn, the vice chair of the Floyd County Republican Party, formed the Leading Floyd County PAC to promote local candidates.

Vaughn said the PAC will endorse "candidates who share a vision of fiscal responsibility, transparency and improving local government." The committee will focus on local races such as the county commissioner and county council seats.

"I think we're going to be facing some pretty serious issues that are going to have to be addressed, and people that get elected for Floyd County Council and county commissioner are going to have to deal with these issues in the next four years — stuff like EMS service, a new judicial center and infrastructure improvements," he said.

He initially formed the PAC in 2021 as a joint fundraising committee to support the candidacy of Floyd County Prosecutor Chris Lane and Floyd County Commissioner Al Knable. Moving forward, the committee is taking a broader focus.

"I just kind of left it open and over the last three or four months decided to take it in a new direction," Vaughn said.

He said the county's EMS service is one of the top priorities for the community.

"We're going to have to figure out a plan with EMS," Vaughn said. "It seems like New Chapel is probably not going to be the provider going forward in Floyd County, and so the cost for EMS services is going to go up, and we're going to have to figure out creative ways to be able to pay for a better service — a service that Floyd County deserves."

He said the PAC is focusing on "extremely qualified" candidates.

"It will probably be the most qualified people we'll have running for certain positions in the history of the county — people with experience like who are very good with numbers, maybe someone who's a financial advisor, people with law enforcement experience, with emergency service experience," Vaughn said. "I think it will be an unprecedented amount of experience for the slate that we will be supporting."

As far as fundraising, the committee will accept donations "from people who have a stake in the community," Vaughn said.

"I'll be putting some of my own money in of course, but we'll see how that process unfolds," he said.

Vaughn said he has been involved in local politics since 2014, and he is a second-year law student at the University of Louisville. He is also a managing partner at Vaughn & Knable Consulting.

He said the committee will "focus on being positive."

"We're just making sure that the voters understand that we have these big issues that will need to be addressed, and we need the best people to address those," Vaughn said.