Bucks County Republicans remove Jan. 6 rioter from Doylestown committee seat

Chris Ullery, Bucks County Courier Times
·3 min read
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The Bucks County Republican Committee voted to remove Doylestown resident Dawn Bancroft as an elected committee member. The move comes nearly two months after Bancroft was sentenced to a 60-day jail sentence for entering the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.

The Sept. 8 vote among the 100 members of the GOP executive committee was an immediate removal of Bancroft, 60, from representing the party in Doylestown Borough Ward 2 Precinct 2, according to a Wednesday news release from the county Republicans.

“Like all Americans, we deeply value the freedom to peacefully assemble and express our political opinion,” said party Chair Pat Poprik. “However, the actions taken on January 6, 2021 by Ms. Bancroft, including breaking into the Capitol, go well beyond peaceful assembly."

Dawn Bancroft, 60, of Doylestown Borough, shown here inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, was ousted from her elected position as a Republican Committeewoman this month by the Bucks County Republican Committee.
Dawn Bancroft, 60, of Doylestown Borough, shown here inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, was ousted from her elected position as a Republican Committeewoman this month by the Bucks County Republican Committee.

Bancroft’s arrest in late January came after she shared a video with a friend showing her and Upper Black Eddy resident Diana Santos-Smith inside the Capitol building during the insurrection.

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"We broke into the Capitol. … We got inside, we did our part. ... We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her,” Bancroft said in the video, according to court documents.

Bancroft pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge last September, winning her seat on the Republican committee in May while awaiting her sentencing. During her sentencing hearing on July 21, Bancroft described her actions as "inappropriate, childish and foolish."

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"Our Executive Committee agreed, and have taken the appropriate action to remove her from her role as Committeewoman," Poprik added Wednesday. "This is not an action that was taken lightly, but was clearly necessary given the circumstances.”

The Republicans faced numerous calls from area Democrats demanding Bancroft's resignation or removal in the weeks that followed her sentencing.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, chair of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, and Connor O’Hanlon, chair of the Doylestown Democrats, said Bancroft's involvement in the Capitol riots should have been enough to disqualify her from holding office in the first place.

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In a statement to this news organization on Wednesday, Santarsiero again chided the Republicans for not pushing Bancroft out sooner.

“It appears that mounting public pressure finally forced the Bucks GOP to do what it should have done the day after the May primary: remove a known insurrectionist from their ranks. ... It is frankly a disgrace that she was allowed to serve a day as an official representative of the local Republican Party let alone nearly four months. I urge ordinary Republicans who reject extremism to make it clear that this is not acceptable in any political party.”

Poprik told this news organization last month that she doubted Bancroft would resign on her own but that the party was moving forward with a "multi-pronged procedure" to kick Bancroft out of her seat.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County GOP ousts Dawn Bancroft from Doylestown committee seat