RI GOP party goes 'all volunteer' after executive director steps down. What that means.

The Rhode Island Republican Party's executive director has stepped down and, at least in the short term, will not be replaced.

Jesus Solorio, who was hired as state GOP executive director in March 2022, announced Monday that he had left the party to form his own political consultancy.

“It's been an honor serving as the Rhode Island GOP executive director for the past two years," Solorio wrote in a news release, which described the specialty of his new firm, Homan Street Strategies, as "empowering candidates with the precise tools and strategies needed to turn blue seats red."

RI GOP returning to an 'all-volunteer' arrangement

During his time at the Rhode Island Republican Party, Solorio saw very few blue seats turn red in Rhode Island as Democrats maintained their grip on statewide offices and most city halls and commanding majorities in the General Assembly.

State party Chairman Joe Powers Monday said the organization had "not put in a plan to fill the position straight away" and would be returning to the all-volunteer arrangement that was in place from 2018 until Solorio's hiring in 2022.

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Solorio came to Rhode Island from Illinois, where he had been the Latino outreach/volunteer coordinator for then-candidate and future one-term governor Bruce Rauner before launching his own unsuccessful campaign for Congress.

Solorio was alerted to the Rhode Island job by Ashley Kalus, a fellow Rauner campaign alum who won the Republican nomination for governor of Rhode Island in 2022, but lost to Gov. Dan McKee.

More recently, Solorio came under pressure in January when the party struggled to collect the necessary signatures to get all Republican presidential candidates on the state primary ballot. The four Republicans challenging presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump did ultimately qualify for the primary ballot.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI GOP returns to all volunteers after executive director leaves