[1] Three dozen communities in New Haven and Litchfield counties receive the newspaper, among them being: Greater Waterbury, the Naugatuck Valley, and Litchfield County, and include Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Canaan, Cheshire, Colebrook, Cornwall, Falls Village, Goshen, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Middlebury, Morris, Naugatuck, New Hartford, New Milford, North Canaan, Oxford, Plymouth, Prospect, Roxbury, Salisbury, Seymour, Sharon, Southbury, Terryville, Thomaston, Torrington, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Winchester, Winsted, Wolcott, and Woodbury.

Ownership of both papers has been retained in the Pape family until the present day, with the decision to merge them to form the Republican-American coming in 1990.

[5] The Republican-American claims that it is "quick to blow the whistle on what it views as wasteful use of tax dollars, as well as what it sees as unnecessary growth of local, state or federal government".

[5] The newspaper is a frequent critic of the demands of organized labor, especially public-employee unions, arguing they compel governments and businesses to spend beyond their means.

[6][7] The Republican-American has often labeled Democratic officials and candidates as communists or socialists,[8][9][10] and the paper's editorial board has been criticized by newspaper trade publication Editor & Publisher for "McCarthyism" and "red-baiting".

[10] The paper's editorial board attracted widescale attention and condemnation after publishing a piece titled "Is New Orleans Worth Reclaiming?