Fellow Texas Republicans,

I’d like to extend my warmest thanks and appreciation to all of you who worked hard over the past several weeks to help Republicans and Republican issues win at the ballot box in the municipal elections held last Saturday across Texas. Congratulations to all of our Republicans candidates who won seats on city councils and school boards! You, our local candidates, are the key to building our bench and keeping conservative principles implemented in government in every corner of Texas.

People & Places

This past week has been full travels and of meeting wonderful people from all over Texas and beyond!

Last weekend I was pleased to attend the NRA Annual Meeting with other proud NRA members. I am not at all surprised that our great state set a new record of 87,154 attendees, and I was honored to welcome NRA to Texas when I spoke during their grassroots panel presentation. Our Operations Director Rachel Malone was one of the panelists and provided insight to the attendees on engaging more effectively with millennials and Gen Z — including through promoting constitutional carry in Texas.

Many Texas Republicans were in attendance, including SREC Committeeman Randy Dunning (SD-16) and several precinct chairs. I’d like to thank President Trump and Vice-President Pence and our great Texas Republican leadership for their presence over the weekend — including Governor Greg Abbott, US Senator Ted Cruz, US Representative Pete Sessions, and State Senator Konni Burton. I especially appreciated our President’s speech about the importance of standing up for the inalienable right of all people to defend themselves and their property.

Prior to the NRA Annual Meeting, I traveled to Miami, FL for the Republican National Committee spring meeting. Texas is represented by three Members: myself, National Committeewoman Toni Anne Dashiell, and National Committeeman Robin Armstrong. On the final day, Robin and I were joined by National Federation of Republican Women President Jody Rushton who carried Toni Anne’s proxy.

The members adopted 6 resolutions – including one which I co-sponsored regarding the federal government not using taxpayer dollars from successful states to bail out states who have ruined their own economies:

“Resolved, Congress should pass, and the President sign, a bill providing that no debt of any Municipality or State shall ever be paid for by Federal Taxes or become the obligation of Federal Taxpayers resulting from the default, restructuring or transfer of those obligations made by them. This law should allow for, should Congress so elect to do so, the use of funds for local police, fire and other emergency personnel and equipment (to exclude pension funding) necessary to provide for the immediate security, health and safety of local citizens.”

We also amended the RNC rules in two areas: allowing the convention arrangements committee chair to be appointed earlier in the convention planning process, and doing away with the standing committee on convention debates (but still allowing for an ad hoc debate committee to be appointed).

In addition to the business, I was honored to attend special events with Lara Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. And of course, I spent my spare minutes making calls our Party’s supporters to let them know about the wonderful opportunities we still have for convention sponsorships and booths!

The next RNC meeting will be held in Austin, July 18-21. See more information, including how you can attend as a guest, on our facebook event page. I hope to see many of you there!

Report from the Field

Last Saturday, May 5, our field team joined with Governor Abbott’s team and many volunteers for an outreach initiative called “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” All told, over 300 volunteers knocked on over 15,000 doors in 25 cities on that one day alone.

Our Republican leadership invested personal time and energy in the effort as well — including Harris County Chair Paul Simpson (pictured) who kicked off a Houston event, and Governor Greg Abbott, who worked with a team to knock doors and visit with voters (pictured in Dallas). Many thanks to those who joined in the gatherings across the state and the many volunteers who helped us reach this amazing goal!

This week we welcome Assistant Data Director Julian Bost (jbost@texasgop.org). Julian, a Corpus Christi native, who will work closely with Spencer Davis to better serve the data needs of our county parties and candidates. As you may have heard, our data program has grown exponentially since last summer, with users growing from the hundreds to the thousands. Please join us in welcoming Julian — and stay tuned for more information to come!

Party News

Five weeks from today our convention committees will be in full swing, taking testimony from delegates and alternates and preparing their reports for the State Convention. I certainly hope you will be a part of that important decision process! Find more information about our state convention atwww.texasgop.org/state-convention-2018/.

Here are some helpful items related to convention and upcoming elections:

  • If you’re a delegate, alternate, or guest planning on joining us in San Antonio and haven’t registered for the convention yet, please do so at:https://events.american-tradeshow.com/TXGOPfed

  • If you’ve already registered for convention and are trying to login to your account to add tickets to events, etc. and are receiving a message that says incorrect email or password, please make sure you are using the link you received in your confirmation email and the most recent password for the account.

  • If there are Primary Runoffs in your county, early voting is next week (May 14th-18th) and Election Day is the following Tuesday (May 22nd)

  • You can look up your voter registration status, polling location, etc. at:https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/voterDetails.do (Please note: it may redirect you to your county’s voter registration site)

In Case You Missed It . . .

Press Release: 

Coming Up Next

May 9: Chairman Dickey speaking to Woodlands Republican Women (more info)
May 11: Last day to apply for ballot by mail.
May 12: Chairman Dickey at SD-26 pre-convention barbecue
May 14: Early voting begins for the May 22nd runoff
May 22: Runoff election (various counties)
May 23: Chairman Dickey at the San Antonio Republican Club luncheon

Also, please join our facebook group for the RPT State convention if you will be attending! CLICK HERE.

Sincerely,

James Dickey

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