Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey recently spoke with Empower Texans General Counsel and Texas Scorecard Radio Host Tony McDonald about the efforts the party is making to fulfill the wishes of the grassroots.
Chairman Dickey was elected in June of 2017 after former Chairman Tom Mechler abruptly announced his resignation. Since then, the party has seen a dramatic shift of focus in which the grassroots Republicans in the state have played a more significant role.
Dickey himself a former grassroots advocate, says that the changes he has overseen so far are not as surprising as some may think.
“It’s funny, fortunately we’ve got some great elected officials in Texas, so Texans are not quite as surprised by this as a lot of other folks unfortunately are, but all I’ve been doing is keeping to exactly what I promised during my campaign.”
What is the big, surprising thing that Dickey has been doing? He has insisted that Republican elected officials adhere to the Republican Party platform. The same one that all Republican elected officials campaign on, yet many fail to uphold once they are elected.
Dickey goes on to praise Texas’ grassroots efforts and points out that Texas is “a uniquely grassroots up Republican Party and should reflect that at all levels.”
The Texas GOP top man then discusses his meteoric rise from a “rank and file Republican grassroots activist” to the head of the party, “[O]f all the places for it to happen it makes perfect sense that it would happen in Texas. Because everything about the Texas Republican Party is built to honor and respect and recognize the authority of the grassroots Republican voter.”
Dickey goes on to explain how he deals with the different factions within the Texas Republican Party, “The easiest way to unite is to focus on the efforts that we agree on. The policies that we agree on, let’s focus on those. I can gladly work with any legislator, any elected official if we are working together to reach a goal that the grassroots have asked us to reach.”
At the conclusion of the 85th Texas Legislature a small band of conservatives known as the “Texas Freedom Caucus” led an effort to reform the way in which the Texas House of Representatives choose their Speaker.
Dickey recently came out in favor of having the Republican Party unite around a candidate in order to end the previous process in which the minority party, with a small group of liberal Republicans, chose the leader of the House.
“It’s just plain common sense. Voters did not send a near super majority to both houses of the Texas Legislature, in order to have Democrats make a decision on something so critical as the Speaker of the House.”
If you would like to hear the entire interview with Chairman Dickey click here. You can also subscribe to the Texas Scorecard Radio podcast and get each episode delivered directly to you each week by clicking here.
