Previous Speakers

April 2022

Toni Anne Dashiell - RNC National Committee Woman for Texas

Toni Anne Dashiell has been active in politics, grassroots advocacy and leadership training for more than 50 years. She is a leader among leaders, who was awarded the 2009 Ronald Reagan Leadership Award by the National Federation of Republican Women for her distinctive term as the President of the Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW). Together, Toni Anne and Rachel Woods Co-Authored “Leading for Freedom: Leadership Skills for Republicans.”

 

In 2013 Toni Anne was elected the RNC National Committeewoman for Texas and was reelected in 2016. With the blessing of President Trump, Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel appointed Toni Anne Chair of the RNC Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 National Convention. In January 2019, Toni Anne was re-elected to the RNC Budget Committee.

 

March 2022

Rupal Chaudhari for Travis County Judge

Rupal Chaudhari was not very interested in politics – until politics took an interest in her. On January 25th, 2021, she and her husband learned, abruptly, from a local newspaper that the City of Austin planned to purchase a hotel in the same parking lot as their hotels for use as a "homeless shelter" – at a purchase price of $9.5 million.

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February 2020
 

RCA Luncheon: February 4th | Mini Debate forum for the 5 Republican candidates for House District 47

 

January 2020
 



Becky Bray, a 4th generation Austinite, has announced her plans to seek the Republican nomination for Travis County Commissioner Precinct 3 in the March 2020 GOP Primary. The seat is currently held by incumbent Gerald Daugherty, who yesterday announced that he would not to run for re-election. Precinct 3 covers much of western Travis County.


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December 2019
 



Senator Donna Campbell, M.D. is an emergency room physician and proud parent of four daughters who lives in New Braunfels. She represents a six county district including parts of Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, and Travis counties. She sits on Finance and serves as Chairwoman of the Veteran Affairs and Border Security Committee. A proud woman of faith, Senator Campbell has volunteered with Christian Eye Ministries and performed hundreds of surgeries in West Africa.

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November 2019
 



Larry Schweikart, a native Arizonian, graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in Political Science, then went on the road with several different rock bands, opening for such 60s/70s acts as Steppenwolf. He abruptly decided he wanted to be a history professor, and received an MA from ASU in history, then a Ph.D. from University of California, Santa Barbara. From 1985 to 2016 he taught at the University of Dayton.


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October 2019
 



Gerald Daugherty, grew up in the Houston area and was drafted out of high school by the Boston Red Sox baseball organization. He soon realized that an education was more obtainable than making it to the big leagues, returned to Austin, and graduated from the University of Texas in 1975. For the past 40 years Gerald has been a successful Austin businessman, owning and operating successful ventures including the Pleasant Valley Sportsplex.


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September 2019
 



Brian Ruddle started his political career in High School, knocking on doors to fight against estate taxes which were devastating ranching families in his native Fairplay, Colorado. Having served in various high capacity internships in Washington D.C, he decided to make his passion his full-time career. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Brian worked for Gubernatorial candidates and the RNC for four years before moving to Texas to serve as the Director of Political Training for Governor Abbott's most recent campaign.

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June 2019
 



Dr.Laura Pressley is a former candidate for the Austin City Council in 2014. In 2019, Dr. Pressley prevailed in a historic election integrity case in the Texas Supreme Court and she will be discussing her case and the legal precedent that now impacts all candidates in Texas. She contested her 2014 election results and discovered evidence of electronic voting corruption in Travis County and that Travis and many Texas counties are not following state laws with regard to backup records to validate electronic voting results.

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May 2019
 



Eric Opiela served as the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas from 2008-2009, and most recently was its Associate General Counsel from 2010-2017.
He was Chairman of the Karnes County Republican Party for four years, represented Senate District 21 on the Texas State Republican Executive Committee for two terms, and represented Texas on the Credentials Committee of the last two Republican National Conventions.

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April 2019
 



Brandon Waltens serves as the Capitol Bureau Chief for Empower Texans and Texas Scorecard.
Born in the Socialist Republic of California, Brandon's family fled as political refugees to Texas as fast as they could. After growing up in Dallas-Fort Worth, Brandon attended Baylor University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2014.

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March 2019
 



Jamie McWright has been serving as the president of the Associated Republicans of Texas since April 2014. Prior to that, Jamie spent 11 years on the Washington, DC, staff of Senator John Cornyn. Throughout her time with the Senator she served as a Legislative Assistant, Administrative Director, Special Assistant at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Whip Liaison.



Hector De Leon is the founder and managing partner of De Leon & Washburn, P.C. He has taught at the University of Texas School of Law as an Adjunct Professor since 1990 and was named a distinguished alumnus of the university in 2010. Named a Super Lawyer in administrative law by Texas Monthly six times...

 

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February 2019
 



The Honorable Robert Henneke is the General Counsel and Director of the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Federal District Courts in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Districts of Texas.

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November 2018
 



James Dickey was elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas in June 2017 with decades of experience as a conservative activist and Republican leader. Since his election, he has brought renewed focus to empowering the GOP grassroots, guided by the conservative ideas embodied in the party's platform.

 

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October 2018
 



State Representative Paul D. Workman has served the people of House District 47 in the Texas House of Representatives since January 2011. House District 47 includes most of western Travis County as well as portions of southern Travis County.



Congressman Michael T. McCaul is currently serving his seventh term representing Texas' 10th District in the United States Congress. The 10th Congressional District of Texas stretches from Austin to the Houston suburbs, and includes Austin, Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Harris, Lee, Travis, Washington and Waller Counties.

 

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May 2018
 



Bill Flores is a ninth generation Texan, raised in Stratford, a small town in the Texas Panhandle. While growing up in this agricultural community, he learned the value of hard work, starting at age nine by working cattle with his Dad, followed by having his own paper routes, and working six days per week, 12 hours per day in the ag industry during his middle school and high school years.

 

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April 2018
 



State Representative Jason Isaac is a fourth-generation native Texan honored to serve Blanco and Hays counties in the Texas Legislature. Since his election in 2010, Representative Isaac has successfully passed legislation to reduce taxes, strengthen election integrity, improve public education, preserve Second Amendment rights, protect local groundwater, and protect private property rights.

 

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March 2018
 



John Daniel Davidson is a senior correspondent at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Texas Monthly, The Guardian, First Things, the Claremont Review of Books, and elsewhere. He lives in Austin, Texas.

 

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February 2018
 



Justice David Puryear is a 62 year-old fifth-generation Texan and senior justice on the Texas third Court of Appeals. Central Texans elected Justice Puryear to the Third Court of Appeals in 2000, and re-elected him in 2006 and 2012. This makes him the senior and longest serving justice on the Third Court, as well as one of the longest serving appellate judges in the state of Texas. During this time, he has issued well over 2,500 written opinions.

 

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January 2018
 



Throughout her career, Jennifer Freel has demonstrated a passion for defending the rule of law and upholding our Constitution. She served more than nine years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas and has extensive trial experience, securing guilty convictions involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes.

 

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December 2017
 




Donna García Davidson is a candidate for Texas' Third Court of Appeals based in Austin. Donna has lived in district comprising the Third Court of Appeals for 38 years and has practiced law throughout the area for 25 years.

 

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November 2017




James Dickey, is a Chairman of the Travis County Republican Party. He was elected as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas in June of 2017.

 


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October 2017




Gerald Daugherty, is a successful Austin businessman, owning and operating successful ventures including the Pleasant Valley Sportsplex.



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September 2017





Jay Wiley, 7th generation Texan, a Constitutional Conservative, and a Small Businessman



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August 2017





Matt Mackowiak, President of Potomac Strategy Group (PSG), LLC



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June 2017





Paul D. Workman, State Representative



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May 2017





Gary Teal, TCRP Executive Director



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May 2017





Tracey Carroll, TCRP Deputy Executive Director



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April 2017





George P. Bush, Texas Land Commissioner



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September 2014





Roger Williams, Chief Election Officer for Texas



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July 2014





James Dickey, Chairman, Travis County Republican Party (TCRP)



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June 2014





Gary Farmer, President, Heritage Title of Austin



May 2014





Thomas Lindsey, Ph.D., Director, Center for Higher Education, Texas Public Policy Foundation



April 2014





Richard Trabulsi is a co-founder and President of Texans for Lawsuit Reform and is Chairman of its Political Action Committee.

Mr. Trabulsi is a native of Houston, Texas.  He is married, has two adult children and three grandchildren.



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March 2014





Bill Hammond, President & CEO of Texas Association for Business



February 2014



Agriculture Commissioner Debate (Eric Opiela. Sid Miller, J Allen Carnes)



January 2014





State Senator Ken Paxton, Candidate for Attorney General

was first elected to the Texas Senate in 2012 after serving five terms in the Texas House of Representatives.



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December 2013





Representative Dan Branch, Texas House & Candidate for Attorney General



November 2013





Barry Smitherman, Chairman - Texas Railroad Commission & Candidate for Attorney General



October 2013



Lt. Governor David Dewhurst











September 2013



US Congressman Michael McCaul



August 2013



State Senator Donna Campbell



July 2013



2nd Amendment Presentation

Toby Miller, Travis County Chief Deputy

Steve Smith, President - Asguard Security Training



June 2013



Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd, Texas Supreme Court



May 2013



Scott Burns, Nationally - Syndicated Financial Columnist

Tom Pauken, Candidate for Governor of Texas



April 2013



Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner and Candidate for Lt. Governor



March 2013



Todd Staples, Texas Agricultural Commissioner and Candidate for Lt. Governor



February 2013



Hon. Talmadge Heflin, Director of Fiscal Policy - Texas Public Policy Foundation



January 2013



Michael Quinn Sullivan, President of Empower Texans & Texans for Fiscal Responsibility



December 2012



State Representative Paul Workman



October 2012



Third Court of Appeals Showcase

Justice Bob Pemberton

Justice David Puryear

Justice Jeff Rose

Candidate for Third Court of Appeals, Scott Field - now Justice Scott Field



September 2012



US Congressman, Michael McCaul

  
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