State Party Chairs and Executive Directors 2016

Typically state party chairs are the public face of the party, while executive directors oversee the day to day running of the party; in a few states, the state chair fulfills both roles. 

About State Party Leaders
(revised and updated Nov. 2, 2015)  It is interesting to consider the backgrounds of the state chairs and the qualities that make for a good state chair.  Among the factors state party executive committee members consider when looking at a state chair candidate are fundraising ability, media skills, the ability to work with different factions within the party, and ideas for advancing the party.  If the party holds the governorship, the governor may have a strong say in the selection.  Unlike the executive director position, where a candidate may sometimes be brought in from out of state, chairs are usually known within state party ranks; they may have served on or be a member of the executive committee or headed a county committee or been active in campaigns or served on state party staff.  Chairs bring a range of professional experience to the job.  Some are elected officials, others have run for office unsuccessfully, some are lawyers and others may be businessmen.  In a very few instances there are co-chairs.  There is a significant gender imbalance towards males.  As of Nov. 1, 2015 36-percent of the Democratic chairs from the 50 states plus DC were women (18 of 50; there was one vacancy in Kansas with a woman serving as interim chair).

Typically state chair terms run for two years; in a few states the term is four years.  There are veteran chairs who have been re-elected a number of times, freshmen a few months into the job and still learning the ropes, and interim or acting chairs in instances where the incumbent chair has resigned.  Chairs may not serve out their full terms for reasons ranging from pursuing other opportunities including running for public office, health or personal reasons, and dissastisfation with their performance. 

Executive directors run the state parties day to day.  There are a few instances (OK, KY) where the chair fulfills both roles.  Many times the executive director will have previous experience at the party, for example as political director or finance director.  Most often the executive director has previous experience in the state's politics, but sometimes he or she will be recruited from outside the state.  Looking at the Democrats, over half the executive directors are new to the position since the 2014 midterms.

There are structures and mechanisms for state party leaders to communicate and coordinate among themselves and with the national party.  The RNC is a confederation of state parties, and the state chairs carry considerable weight in its decision-making in their place among the 168 members.  At the RNC, committeeman Steve Robertson of Kentucky is chairman of the state chairmen and former Oklahoma Republican chair Matt Pinnell is in a new position as state party director.  On the Democratic side, the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) has as its mission "to help build strong state parties in order to elect Democrats from the State House to the White House."  New Hampshire state chair Ray Buckley has served as president of the ASDC since Jan. 2009  The Association of State Democratic Executive Directors (ASDED) "fosters professionalism among Executive Directors, seeks to establish and improve avenues of communication among State Parties and their directors, and serves as a conduit for increased communication between the State Parties and the National Party and all its associated bodies."  Jason Perkey of Kansas is president of the ASDED.

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