Andrew Boucher, chairman of The Charleston Meeting in South Carolina, spoke about his decision to run for Charleston County Republican Party Chair and told Breitbart News that he was inspired to run for that position because “the real change starts in your hometown.

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Boucher explained to Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle that he decided to run for Charleston County GOP Chair because “everything starts at the local level.”

“I mean, you can watch the news, you can listen to the radio, you can listen to podcasts, read the news. Whatever it is, you’re getting such a national angle on everything,” Boucher said. “The real change starts in your hometown.”

Boucher called on Republican Party critics to get active in their local chapter because the GOP “is a grassroots bottom up entity” that “answers to every precinct in America over the course of a couple of year process that’s starting now in some states.”

Boucher said:

It’s starting now in South Carolina, where we start at the precinct level. We’re getting together with each individual precinct, and we’re voting on who’s going to represent our precincts in the next step, which is the county level, to the state level, all the way to the National Committee, and that process, it starts at the precinct level, and eventually elects the next chairman of the Republican National Committee. So, folks who feel like they’re not involved, this is how you get involved. Parties are imperfect. I’m the first to admit that. But it’s the best way we have to getting more involved in the political process.

Boucher believes he is the best candidate for Charleston County GOP Chair because he is “really passionate about this local approach to politics.” He also touted his recent success in growing The Charleston Meeting, a local gathering of conservative politicians, journalists, and business leaders.

He continued:

And we have so many people here who are new, most of them over the past few years, especially, are refugees from states where they’ve had locked down, so they’re sick and tired of that big government liberalism running their state or their community. We need to figure out a way to reach out, get them into the Republican Party here in Charleston, and get them active. So it’s kind of become a passion of mine to try to reach out to new people and grow the party and build the party. And I think this is the next step. It’s an opportunity to serve even more.

Boyle noted that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has already visited South Carolina, highlighting the state’s significance as the first in the south presidential primary state. Finally, Boyle asked Boucher to talk about the impact the next Charleston County GOP Chair would have on the 2024 GOP primaries.

Boucher explained that the Charleston County Republican Party, and the local chapters, have to level the playing field and allow candidates to speak with South Carolina voters.

“Well, I think the chair has a role. The biggest role the chair and the party, and different parties around the state have is to say, ‘Come on down to South Carolina, we take the first in the South primary very seriously, we want to give an opportunity for the voters of South Carolina to ask the tough questions,'” Boucher said.

“And frankly, we expect presidential candidates to earn the vote, even if it’s one on one in small group meetings,” he continued. “So I think the role of the party and all that is to have a level playing field and equal opportunity for any candidate to come down and talk to the voters of Charleston. You know, and make sure that we’re creating opportunities for candidates and opportunities for the voters to meet those candidates.”

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.