Last modified on September 22, 2020, at 17:56

James Dickey

James Roy Dickey


Chairman of the
Republican Party of Texas
In office
May 20, 2017 – July 20, 2020
Preceded by Thomas Richard "Tom" Mechler
Succeeded by Allen West

Born November 23, 1966
Place of birth missing
Spouse(s) Lynda Dickey (married 1989)
Children Jay, Donna, and Dakota Dickey
Residence Spicewood, Burnet County, Texas
Alma mater Polytechnic High School

Stanford University
Baylor University

Occupation Insurance agent
Religion Christian

James Roy Dickey (born November 23, 1966) is the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, with service from 2017 to 2020. Generally considered a conservative from the liberal capital city of Austin, Dickey had scored record fund-raising and excelled at candidate recruitment. An insurance agent, he is also the past chairman of the Travis County Republican Party.

Background

Dickey (place of birth missing) graduated from Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth and then Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, at which he earned a degree in political science and English. He then obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, a Southern Baptist-affiliated institution.[1] Dickey and his wife of nearly thirty years, Lynda, reside west of Austin in Spicewood in Burnet County in the Texas Hill Country. They have three children.[1] Dickey has previously resided in Tampa, Florida, Salt Lake City, Utah, Bloomfield, Connecticut, and Dallas , Plano, and Austin, Texas.[2]

From March 1 to September 20, 2016, Dickey temporarily lost his Travis County chairmanship[3] to insurgent Robert Partlow Morrow (an Alabama native born on June 20, 1964), who was subsequently disqualified for the position after he announced a write-in candidacy for U.S. President against Donald Trump,[4] whom he called a "child rapist." An Austin resident who supports abortion on demand and is anti-Israeli in foreign policy, Morrow is co-author with Trump ally Roger Stone of The Clintons' War on Women.[5] After Morrow's disqualification, Dickey defeated, 62–26, the Moderate Republican political consultant Brendan Steinhauser of Austin, who managed the successful John Cornyn Senate re-election campaign in 2014. Dickey endorsed Trump in the 2016 general election, but Steinhauser said that it would be difficult for him to cast a vote for the national Republican nominee.[3]

State party chairman

In the spring of 2017, Dickey was elected by the margin of one vote as the chairman of his state party. He defeated Richard Scott "Rick" Figueroa (born September 13, 1969) of Brenham in Washington County, 33–32, in a vote of the Republican State Executive Committee. He succeeded Thomas Richard "Tom" Mechler of Amarillo, a more Moderate Republican, who stepped down because of personal reasons after a brief tenure as party chairman and had favored Figueroa as his successor.[6]

Gary Polland, editor of Texas Conservative Review, an on-line newsletter, hailed Dickey's first year as chairman based on nine key numbers:

1,543,725 - Record number of voters participating in the March 6 gubernatorial primary won by incumbent Greg Abbott
$1.1 million - Unrestricted funds raised within the last ten months for operating expenses
$548,484.13 - Unrestricted cash on hand, $160,000 higher than our last SREC meeting, 12 percent increase since 2016
$35,000 - Amount raised by the Grassroots Club memberships in March 2018
23,857 - Number of doors on which the field staff knocked to talk about tax reform in the last two months of 2017
8,998 - Number of delegates to the Republican Party of Texas State Convention, the largest political convention in the United States
3,862 - Republican candidates on the Texas ballot in the 2018 primary, more than double the number that the Democrats had on their ballot
43 - Donations exceeding $5,000 in the past ten months
14 - Number of paid Republican Party staff members.[7]

Dickey was elected to a full two-year term as state chairman at the Republican state convention in June 2018. He was opposed by intra-party rival, Cindy Asche, a precinct chair in Denton County north of Dallas, whose father is a former GOP national committeeman.[7] Asche questioned Dickey's past partnership at a hedge fund that lost $20 million in 2001 for the Art Institute of Chicago. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged fraud in the matter. Dickey paid a fine to the SEC without admitting guilt.[8] Jennifer L. Stoner (born June 26, 1947) of Pflugerville near Austin, resigned as the party accounting director on grounds that she considers Dickey "untrustworthy.” Stoner claimed that Dickey had sought information on party finances in an Excel file, which is editable, rather than the usual PDF. Asche's claims had no apparent impact on Dickey's election as state chairman.[8]

Dickey fearful of Republican prospects in 2020

Dickey told Breitbart editor Matt Boyle that Texas "will require all hands on deck to ensure a Trump victory there in the 2020 presidential election. Without our thirty-eight electoral votes, no Republican candidate has a path to victory for the foreseeable future. That is why we are asking for the support of people around the country. We need the financial support, but we need the team, we need you on record to show you support this presidency."[9]

Dickey lost his chairmanship on July 20, 2020, when the African-American conservative Allen West won a considerable majority among delegates to the state senatorial conventions.[10]


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 James Dickey. Facebook. Retrieved on May 29, 2018.
  2. James R. Dickey - Spicewood, Texas. Intelius.com. Retrieved on May 29, 2018.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Jonathan Tilove (September 21, 2016). James Dickey reclaims leadership of the Travis County Republican Party. Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved on May 31, 2018.
  4. Patrick Svitek (August 25, 2016). Texas GOP Officials: Controversial Travis County Chairman Is Out. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved on May 30, 2018.
  5. Robert Morrow. Facebook. Retrieved on May 30, 2018.
  6. Sonja Harris (June 5, 2017). Texas Has a New Republican Party Chair - James Dickey. Texasgopvote.com. Retrieved on May 29, 2018.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Gary Polland (May 29, 2018). Thre Is Only One Choice for RPT Chair: James Dickey. Texas Conservative Review. Retrieved on May 30, 2018.
  8. 8.0 8.1 The ‘Crazies’ Have Fully Taken Over the Texas GOP: At the state GOP convention, Dan Patrick said his side had "won." He’s right. The Texas Observer. Retrieved on July 7, 2018.
  9. Michael Patrick Leahy. Texas GOP chair warns state requires all hands on deck to ensure Trump 2020 victory. Breitbart. Retrieved on April 28, 2019.
  10. Patrick Svitek (July 20, 2020). Allen West unseats James Dickey to become Texas GOP chairman: West defeated Dickey, who was running for a second full term, early Monday morning at a tumultuous virtual state convention. The Texas Tribune.