Photo by samdupont

The D.C. GOP may be small, with under 30,000 registered members citywide, but its size hasn’t stopped it from trying to get local Republicans elected to office. Looking to 2012, the party is fielding a number of contenders in some big ticket local races.

Ron Moten is likely the most well-known of the D.C. GOP’s current crop of candidates. A former Democrat and fervent supporter of Mayor Adrian Fenty, Moten recently joined the Republican Party as part of his challenge of Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7). Moten may not be alone, though — today Don Folden Sr., a veteran Ward 7 Republican candidate, filed paperwork for his own run against Alexander.

Ward 6 ANC Commissioner Mary Brooks Beatty announced today that she’d be running for one of the two At-Large seats on the D.C. Council under the GOP banner. She isn’t alone, though — according to the Post’s Mike DeBonis, fellow Republican Tim Day, who last ran against Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5), is prepping his own run, ensuring a primary challenge come April.

Nelson Rimensnyder is taking another shot at the D.C. Shadow Delegation, this time running against incumbent Shadow Senator Michael Brown, who himself only decided to run late last week. Rimensnyder, a well-known advocate and historian of D.C. voting rights, has run before — in 2010, he tried to unseat Shadow Representative Mike Panetta; two years prior, he set his sights on Shadow Senator Paul Strauss. This time, Rimensyder is coming to the race with a particular issue to push — until the District gets voting rights or statehood, he says, it should be exempted from paying federal taxes.

This afternoon, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics tweeted that Nancy Farolina, a D.C. Republican, filed paperwork to challenge D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. (The last local Republican to take on Norton was, well, interesting.)

On an even more granular level, D.C. GOP Chair Bob Kabel and party member Jill Homan have announced runs for the three-person delegation to the Republican National Committee. The D.C. Democratic State Committee recently did away with elections of such positions.

As for other seats — including the seats for Wards 2, 4 and 8 on the Council — all D.C. GOP Executive Director Paul Craney would say is that possibilities remain.

“There are talks with other potential candidates in some of the other wards but at this moment, nothing definitive,” Craney said.