Allen West Unseats James Dickey As Texas GOP Chair

This week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune

By Rhonda FanningJuly 24, 2020 2:53 pm, , ,

The Republican Party of Texas held the state convention online this week. In an early morning vote on Monday, the incumbent chairman of the party, James Dickey, lost the job to his challenger. Allen West

West, a former Florida Congressman who moved to Texas several years ago, was very well-funded and is a high-profile conservative. 

“It wasn’t even really a close race,” Svitek said. “It was a pretty resounding defeat and it sets the party on a new path, leadership-wise, with just a few months to go until a very important November election.”

On Tuesday, Texas Supreme Court Justice Paul Green announced he will retire at the end of August. The decision by the 68-year-old justice, to retire at that particular time, has become highly politicized. 

“Governor Abbot will get to appoint his successor,” Svitek said. “The timeline is very critical here. If he had decided to, or does retire, several days earlier in August then this will be a vacancy that will be filled in the November election and the voters of Texas would have a say on who his replacement is.” 

The Texas Democratic Party has asked Justice Green to move up his retirement date, so that voters could choose his successor in the upcoming election. Green says he is not going to do that because his retirement plans are not political. 

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