Introduction
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 62-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.
Background
Dickey moved to Texas with his family when he was in junior high and attended Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth where he graduated valedictorian of his class. Dickey then attended Stanford University, where he received a degree in political science and English and later Baylor University, where he received an Master of Business Administration.
Dickey is the chief operating officer of iManaging General Agency Holdings, LLC, the holding company of an insurance firm, iMGA, LLC. He has previously worked in the insurance industry for Kemper Insurance, Great American Insurance, and Republic Group.
Political life
Travis County Republican Party chairman
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. 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.
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.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.
Texas Republican Party chairman
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. 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. Matt Mackowiak of Austin was elected to replace Dickey as Travis County Republican Party chairman and finish one year of Dickey's unexpired term.
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. 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.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%.Asche ran a negative campaign focusing on the complaints of former state party employees and a 2004 Securities and Exchange Commission complaint against Dickey. Asche questioned Dickey's past partnership at a hedge fund that lost $20 million in 2001 for the Art Institute of Chicago. The SEC charged fraud in the matter. Dickey paid a fine to the SEC without admitting guilt.
In July 2019, Dickey announced he would be running for reelection in 2020. He will be facing former Congressman Allen West.
Private life
Dickey and his wife, Lynda, reside approximately 25 miles west of Austin in Spicewood, Texas, in unincorporated Travis County, Texas in the Texas Hill Country. They have three children.