SAN ANTONIO — Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey has won re-election, beating back a challenge from longtime activist Cindy Asche after a long and bitter fight on the convention floor Friday.
Dickey got 65 percent of the delegates’ votes to Asche’s 35 percent at the end of the tumultuous afternoon session. That came hours after delegates delivered 22 of the 31 state Senate districts to Dickey.
“Whether you voted for me this morning, whether you voted for me this afternoon or not, we are all Texas Republicans and we have singular goal in front of us in November: to beat the Democrats,” Dickey said in a brief victory speech. “So please, let’s now come together, show each other the grace and forgiveness and teamwork that makes us the better party, the better people, the better Texans.”
Dickey first took over as state party chairman last year after Tom Mechler, citing personal reasons, gave up the position. Dickey defeated Rick Figueroa, Mechler’s favored candidate to replace him, by a razor-thin margin — 32 votes on the State Republican Executive Committee to 31 for Figueroa.
Asche, who was backed by Mechler, had battled with Dickey over the party’s finances, its censure of retiring GOP House Speaker Joe Straus and even a 2004 securities fraud case involving Dickey. In the home stretch, Asche increasingly questioned the extent of Dickey’s support for President Donald Trump, citing his involvement in the Free the Delegates effort to deny Trump the nomination ahead of the 2016 national convention.
