Dallas Woodhouse

Dallas Woodhouse
Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party
Assumed office
October 2015
Personal details
Born 1972/1973 (age 45–46)
Raleigh, North Carolina
Political party Republican
Alma mater Campbell University
North Carolina State University

Dallas Woodhouse (born 1972/73) is an American political operative based in North Carolina. He has been the Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party since October 2015.

Early life and education

Woodhouse was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his BA in mass communications from Campbell University in 1995. He later received his MA from North Carolina State University in 2005.

Career

Broadcasting career

Woodhouse started his career in broadcast journalism, working as a political reporter and television host.[1] Woodhouse was a reporter and photographer at WKFT from November 1994 to May 1995. He then worked at WCNC-TV from June 1995 to November 2001, where he was a political reporter and host of the current affairs program At Issue. He was also an adjunct instructor at Campbell University from July 1999 to October 2001. He worked with NBC 17 and was a reporter with WLFL from March 2003 to September 2005.

Political career

Woodhouse has been involved in North Carolina politics for many years. He served a one-year appointment as Communications and Congressional Director for USDA Rural Development from March 2002 to March 2003. He was a spokesperson and communications director for Virginia Johnson's Congressional bid from May 2004 to November 2004.

Beginning in 2006, Woodhouse worked for Americans for Prosperity as their Communications and Legislative Director for North Carolina chapter. He took a position as state director of the chapter in August 2007. He stepped down as state director in September 2013.

Woodhouse served on the North Carolina Institute of Constitutional Law Advisory Board from January 2008 to May 2011.

Woodhouse worked with Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory to stop an expansion of taxpayer funding of political campaigns in 2010. The two also traveled together on the “Hands off our Health Care Tour” in leading the opposition to Obamacare in North Carolina.

From September 2013 to January 2014, Woodhouse was campaign manager for Phil Berger Jr., who was running for U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 6th congressional district.[2]

Woodhouse founded the conservative advocacy group and 501(c)(4) Carolina Rising in February 2014. He is the former president of the organization, which has supported North Carolina Republicans and Governor Pat McCrory.[3] Woodhouse is also the sole owner of Solutions NC, a limited liability company formed weeks before Carolina Rising was founded. During the 2014 midterm elections, Carolina Rising raised nearly $4.9 million and spent $4.7 million on political ads for Thom Tillis's Senate campaign.[4]

In June 2014, Woodhouse was removed from a Moral Mondays event by NAACP security.[5]

Woodhouse and his brother Brad were featured in the 2014 documentary Woodhouse Divided by filmmaker Bryan Miller. During a joint appearance with his brother promoting the film on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Woodhouse's mother Joyce called in to the show, saying she hoped the brothers would "have some of this out of your system when you come here for Christmas."[6][7]

North Carolina Republican Party

Woodhouse was selected as Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party in September 2015.[8]

During the 2016 elections, the North Carolina Republican Party was mired in multiple controversies surrounding voter suppression. After a federal court ruled in February 2016 that two of North Carolina's congressional districts must be redrawn as they were based too heavily on race, Woodhouse said he believed that "these districts were drawn in accordance with the Constitution and are fair and legal." He also criticized the Moral Mondays protests, saying they were "backed by out-of-state labor unions and special interests."[9] In July 2016, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the photo ID requirement of a restrictive 2013 law, finding that the new voting provisions targeted African Americans "with almost surgical precision," and that the legislators had acted with clear "discriminatory intent" in enacting strict election rules, shaping the rules based on data they received about African-American registration and voting patterns.[10][11] On August 11 and August 14 of 2016,[12] Woodhouse sent emails to Republican county election board members encouraging them to "make party line changes to early voting" by keeping polling sites closed on Sundays, closing college campus voting sites, and limiting hours that the sites are open.[13][14][15]

In a November 3, 2016 interview with Hallie Jackson on MSNBC, Woodhouse denied that the Republican Party was suppressing votes, saying "We don't know exactly why those election monitors are coming." During the interview he held up a pair of handcuffs, suggesting that if Hillary Clinton were elected, she could be wearing them as "inauguration jewelry".[16][17] In a later interview with The New Republic, Woodhouse acknowledged that false allegations of voter fraud had occurred during the 2016 elections and said that "whether there's widespread voter fraud or not," that people believed there was. He said that expansive voting laws in North Carolina created "havoc and chaos," suggesting that new legislative limits on ballot access would "restore confidence" in the system.[18]

Personal life

Woodhouse is married with two children. He has two siblings, Joy and Brad.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Rutenberg, Jim (August 13, 2009). "Bound by Blood, Torn by Policy and Angrier by the Minute". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Woodhouse launches Berger congressional campaign, moves on". News & Observer. January 10, 2014.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Colin (September 27, 2015). "Dallas Woodhouse to lead NC Republican Party". News & Observer.
  4. ↑ Maguire, Robert (October 20, 2015). "Political nonprofit spent nearly 100 percent of funds to elect Tillis in '14 - OpenSecrets Blog". OpenSecrets.
  5. ↑ Hooley, Danny (June 3, 2014). "VIDEO: Eleven Cited at Moral Monday". WCHL.
  6. ↑ Ohlheiser, Abby (December 16, 2014). "Hero mom calls into C-SPAN to berate her arguing pundit sons". Washington Post.
  7. ↑ Pinckard, Cliff (December 16, 2014). "'Oh God, it's mom': Woman scolds political-pundit sons with call to C-SPAN (video)". Cleveland.com. I was very glad this Thanksgiving was the year that you both were supposed to go to your in-laws... I'm hoping you'll have some of this out of your system when you come here for Christmas. I would really like a peaceful Christmas, and I love you both.
  8. ↑ Binker, Mark (September 26, 2015). "Woodhouse chosen as NC Republican Party executive director :: WRAL.com". WRAL.
  9. ↑ Campbell, Colin (February 13, 2016). "NAACP march blasts voter ID requirement as primary approaches". News & Observer.
  10. ↑ Ann E. Marimow (July 29, 2016). "Appeals court strikes down North Carolina's voter-ID law". Washington Post. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ Julia Harte; Andy Sullivan (July 29, 2016). "North Carolina Voter ID Law Targeted African-Americans, Appeals Court Rules". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  12. ↑ Harte, Julia (November 4, 2016). "Insight: Emails show how Republicans lobbied to limit voting hours in North Carolina". Reuters.
  13. ↑ Campbell, Colin (August 17, 2016). "NC Republican Party seeks 'party line changes' to limit early voting hours". News & Observer.
  14. ↑ "Woodhouse's gaffe exposes real aim of NC voting law". News & Observer. August 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Jarvis, Craig (November 4, 2016). "Woodhouse faces off with Vice News reporter over Sunday voting". News & Observer.
  16. ↑ Douglas, Anna (November 3, 2016). "NC Republican leader suggests handcuffs as Clinton 'inauguration jewelry'". News & Observer.
  17. ↑ Firozi, Paulina (November 3, 2016). "GOP official holds up handcuffs for Clinton during MSNBC interview". The Hill.
  18. ↑ Yeoman, Barry (December 2, 2016). "The North Carolina GOP Has a New Suppression Tactic: Voter Defamation". New Republic.
  19. ↑ Newsweek September 24, 2009
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