State Sen. Bryan Taylor addressed a lively crowd of supporter at Country’s Barbecue late Thursday evening.

The joint meeting of Pike County Republican Women and Pike County Republican Executive Committee in Troy hosted the senator, who was the featured speaker, with additional remarks from Pike County Commissioner Robin Sullivan.

“I’m just trying to get our information out to the public and make our greatest needs known,” Sullivan said.

In his additional remarks before the senator’s speech, the commissioner addressed a few important issues for the Pike County area.

“We wanted to welcome the senator and, with him being new, I wanted to say a little bit so he’d know what our needs are,” Sullivan said.

Brett Vann, vice chair of the Pike County Republican Executive Committee, attested to the high-energy nature of Thursday’s meeting.

“I think it went really well and, more than the speakers, I was surprised at the size of the crowd,” Vann said. “There was an energy in the room and I think the public is starting to feel that same energy.”

Vann says that the political tide in this part of the state is changing, as well as in the nation, and that he looks forward to Taylor’s leadership.

Taylor said he enjoyed the evening and was pleased to be able to make the trip down to address the crowd.

“It’s always fun to come down here,” Taylor said. “The Republican Party is growing by leaps and bounds in this area and I believe that this is a Republican county now.”

Taylor addressed the reasons he feels are the cause in this shift in the political tide.

“Pike County is conservative, people here believe in less government and more freedom, and in reigning in out of control government spending,” Taylor said.

Working to prevent proration and focusing on stopping irresponsible government spending were a couple of highlights during the senator’s address on Thursday.

“The Republicans have the right principles to get out of this budget crisis,” Taylor said.

Attendees at the joint meeting were pleased with the natural flow of the evening and were excited to see that the Republican Party was represented so well.