James Dickey (Texas politician)

James Roy Dickey (born November 23, 1966), an insurance company executive from Austin, Texas, is the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. He was chosen by the 64-member Republican State Executive Committee meeting in Austin on June 3, 2017, after the resignation of Tom Mechler of Houston, the chairman since 2015. Under Dickey's tenure, the GOP has held all statewide offices in Texas.

James Dickey
Chair of the Texas Republican Party
Assumed office
June 3, 2017
Preceded byTom Mechler
Personal details
Born
James Roy Dickey

(1966-11-23) November 23, 1966
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Lynda Dickey (1989–present)
Children3
Alma materStanford University (BA)
Baylor University (MBA)
Websitejamesrdickey.com

Early life and education

Dickey moved to Texas with his family when he was in elementary school and attended Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth[1] where he graduated valedictorian of his class. Dickey then attended Stanford University, where he received bachelor's degrees in political science and English and later Baylor University, where he received an Master of Business Administration.[1][2]

Dickey is the chief operating officer of iManaging General Agency Holdings, LLC, the holding company of an insurance firm, iMGA, LLC.[1] He has previously worked in the insurance industry for Kemper Insurance, Great American Insurance, and Republic Group.[3][4]

Career

Travis County Republican Party

On March 4, 2014, Dickey was elected Travis County Republican Party chairman, in an uncontested Republican primary. He succeeded Rosemary Edwards, who served in that position from 2008 until Dickey's election.

Dickey choose to run for reelection as Travis County chair in 2016, but he was defeated in the March 1, 2016 election, 26,619 to 20,543 (56.4% to 43.6%) by Robert Morrow.[5] Travis County Republican Party leaders immediately wanted to remove Morrow because he would wear a court jester's hat to county party meetings, speculated on famous assassinations and conspiracy theories, promoted his book on the Clintons he co-authored with Roger Stone, and turned over all operations of the county to his vice-chairman.[6][7]

The defeat to Morrow lead to Dickey temporarily losing the Travis County chairmanship from March 1 to September 20, 2016. Dickey was re-elected as the Travis County chair after Morrow was disqualified and forced out of office after Morrow announced a write-in candidacy for U.S. President against Donald Trump.[8][9] After Morrow's disqualification and forced removal, Dickey defeated, 62–26, the political consultant Brendan Steinhauser of Austin, who managed the successful John Cornyn Senate re-election campaign in 2014. Steinhauser was critical of Dickey's late support of Trump.[5]

Texas Republican Party

On May 20, 2017, Tom Mechler resigned as state party chairman. Mechler cited time constraints and business and family matters for the resignation. Having worked in 2016 to unify the Donald Trump and Ted Cruz factions in the Texas GOP, Mechler called for party unity and outreach in his departing statement. While still holding the position of Travis County chair, Dickey decided to run for state party chair in the spring of 2017. Candidates who ran against Dickey for the position of state party chairman were Richard Scott "Rick" Figueroa of Brenham, Texas and Mark Ramsey, a state committee member from Spring in Harris County.[10] Figueroa was Mechler's choice for party chair.

On June 3, 2017, the 62-member State Republican Executive Committee and the vice chair narrowly chose Dickey to succeed Tom Mechler of Amarillo, Texas. Dickey polled 32 votes to 31 for Rick Figueroa, a wealth management executive in Houston.[11][12] Matt Mackowiak of Austin was elected to replace Dickey as Travis County Republican Party chairman and finish one year of Dickey's unexpired term.[9]

Dickey chose to run for reelection in 2018 as Texas state party chair. He faced Cindy Asche, a precinct chair in Collin County, Texas, north of Dallas. Asche loaned herself almost $200,000 to finance her campaign.[13] On June 15, 2018, at the Texas Republican convention in San Antonio, Dickey received 22 votes to Asche's 9 votes among the 31 Texas Senate districts.[14] Asche of Frisco, Texas, a nurse and the chaplain for the Texas Federation of Republican Women, demanded that all of the delegates to the state convention vote on the state party chairman contest. Dickey won the vote of the full convention with 5,680 votes to Asche's 3,009 votes, 65.4% to 34.6%.[15] Asche ran a negative campaign focusing on the complaints of former state party employees and a 2004 Securities and Exchange Commission complaint against Dickey.[16] Asche questioned Dickey's past partnership at a hedge fund that lost $20 million in 2001 for the Art Institute of Chicago[17]. The SEC filed a complaint alleging hedge fund fraud in the matter[18]. Dickey paid a fine to the SEC without admitting guilt.[19]

In July 2019, Dickey announced he would be running for reelection at the July 2020 state convention in Houston. He will be facing former Congressman Allen West.[20]

After President Donald Trump proposed to move the 2020 Republican National Convention from North Carolina amid Coronavirus restrictions, Dickey volunteered Texas as a potential venue, saying, "Texans know how to and can safely have a big event like that as we reopen Texas." Dickey later mentioned Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston as possible locations if the convention were hosted in Texas.[21][22]

Private life

Dickey married his wife, Lynda, in 1989, and they live in Spicewood, Texas, in unincorporated Travis County, Texas in the Texas Hill Country. They have three children.[1][2]

References
  1. "About Chairman Dickey". TexasGOP.Org. Austin, Texas: The Republican Party of Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  2. "James Dickey". Menlo Park, California: Facebook. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  3. "iMGA's Team". imga.biz. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  4. "James Dickey". LinkedIn. Sunnyvale, California. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  5. Jonathan Tilove (September 21, 2016). "James Dickey reclaims leadership of the Travis County Republican Party". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  6. Victor, Daniel (March 2, 2016). "Texas Republicans Disavow Foul-Mouthed Election Winner". New York Times. New York, New York. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  7. Walsh, Sean Collins (August 13, 2016). "Robert Morrow holds first meeting as Travis County GOP chairman". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  8. Patrick Svitek (August 25, 2016). "Texas GOP Officials: Controversial Travis County Chairman Is Out". The Texas Tribune. Austin, Texas. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  9. Goldenstein, Taylor (Nov 16, 2017). "Travis County GOP chairman announces re-election bid". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  10. Patrick Svitek (May 20, 2017). "Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler resigns". KVUE and The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  11. Tilove, Jonathan (June 3, 2017). "Austin's James Dickey elected Texas GOP chair in razor-thin victory". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  12. Sonja Harris (June 5, 2017). "Texas Has a New Republican Party Chair - James Dickey". Texasgopvote.com. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  13. Svitek, Patrick (January 21, 2020). "Big bucks — and a big donor — fuel Allen West's bid for Texas GOP chair". The Eagle. Bryan, Texas: BH Media Group. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  14. Svitek, Patrick (June 15, 2018). "James Dickey wins re-election as chairman of the Texas GOP". Texas Tribune. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  15. McGaughy, Lauren (June 15, 2018). "Texas Republicans re-elect James Dickey party chairman after testy debate". Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  16. Tilove, Jonathan (June 16, 2018). "Asche is to ashes, but is James Dickey a man the Texas GOP can trust?". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  17. "The 'Crazies' Have Fully Taken Over the Texas GOP". The Texas Observer. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  18. "Conrad P. Seghers And James R. Dickey : Lit. Rel. No. 18749 / June 17, 2004". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  19. SEC v. Conrad P. Seghers and James R. Dickey, Civil Action No. 3:04 CV 1320-K (N.D. Tex.), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, September 25, 2006
  20. WBAP Morning News – Retired Colonel Allen West Says He Is Looking to Run for GOP Chair, WBAP 820 AM, Dallas, Texas, July 8, 2019.
  21. Uchida, Adela (2020-06-03). "Texas Republican leaders ready to roll out welcome mat for RNC". KEYE. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  22. Perrett, Connor. "Texas Republican party chairman said Trump can hold the RNC in his state if the president moves it from North Carolina like he threatened". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Tom Mechler		 Chair of the Texas Republican Party
2017–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.