Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.

A.J. Spiker

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A.J. Spiker
A. J. Spiker by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Basic facts
Location:Iowa
Expertise:Iowa politics
Affiliation:Republican


A.J. Spiker is a political operative working in the state of Iowa. He was an advisor to Rand Paul's leadership PAC, RAND PAC.[1] From 2012 to 2014, Spiker served as the chair of the Iowa Republican Party and was considered a potential candidate for the 2014 U.S. Senate elections in Iowa.[2] In 2011, Spiker was the Iowa state vice chairman for Ron Paul's presidential campaign. A realtor from Ames, Iowa, since 2002, Spiker also has served as the chairman of the Story County Republican Party.

Career

Republican Party of Iowa

As chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, Spiker made the party's priorities "returning Iowa to its roots and helping to restore the principles of limited government, free markets and the personal liberty."[3] Upon his election in 2012, Spiker also said that reaching out to younger voters would be a party priority: "The youth vote is very important to the Republican Party. Republican presidential candidates do events on campuses all over Iowa, and the [state] GOP is definitely reaching out to young voters and will continue to do so."[4]

In November 2012, Spiker called for the removal of Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins from office. The call was in response to Wiggins' vote to overturn Iowa's same-sex marriage ban in the 2009 case of Varnum v. Brien. Spiker said: "The Republican Party of Iowa believes we must be a state based on laws and not the whims of unelected activist judges attempting to impose their personal views on the public. The people of Iowa are tired of increasingly powerful bureaucrats arrogantly and deceitfully instituting law when they have no justification or ability to do so."[5]

Spiker's leadership was criticized by many as having "thoroughly alienated the Republican grassroots and establishment" in Iowa.[6] Governor Terry Branstad (R-Iowa), speaking with the National Journal, said: "Unfortunately, [Spiker] left the party in a difficult financial position. He, as a state chairman, wasn't so much a team player. He was more interested on focusing on certain agenda items as opposed to electing candidates."[6]

Presidential election, 2016

RAND PAC

See also: Rand Paul presidential campaign, 2016

On March 8, 2014, Spiker announced that he would resign from his position in the Republican Party.[7] On March 9, 2014, the Washington Post reported that Spiker was joining Paul's campaign as a RAND PAC advisor.[1]

Paul suspended his presidential run on February 3, 2016.[8]

Comments on Donald Trump

In June 2016, Spiker commented to NBC that he supported a potential movement for delegates to not vote for Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, encouraging delegates to "stop that man." He said, "I'd rather have the challenge of having to raise some money than having to pick up all the pieces that Donald Trump has smashed."[9] In response to Spiker's comments, Jeff Kaufmann, chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, said the report was about Spiker "getting [his] name in the press and doing so in a way that’s harmful to the credibility of our state nationally."[10]

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'A.J. Spiker'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

A.J. Spiker - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Washington Post, "Paul ally A.J. Spiker to resign as Iowa GOP chairman," accessed May 8, 2015
  2. ↑ Politico, "Iowa Republican Senate primary 2014 a free-for-all," May 24, 2013
  3. ↑ Iowa GOP, "About," accessed May 8, 2015
  4. ↑ Daily Iowan, "Paul-backer Spiker elected new state GOP leader," accessed May 8, 2015
  5. ↑ KCCI News Des Moines, "GOP wants voters to remove Supreme Court justice," accessed May 8, 2015
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 National Journal, "Rand Paul's Iowa Albatross," accessed May 8, 2015
  7. ↑ Politico, "Iowa GOP chair A.J. Spiker to resign," accessed May 8, 2015
  8. ↑ Politico, "Rand Paul dropping out of White House race," February 3, 2016
  9. ↑ NBC News, "Some Republicans Discuss Anti-Trump Convention Coup," June 8, 2016
  10. ↑ Des Moines Register, "Iowa GOP chair slams Spiker, Vander Plaats on Trump 'coup' quotes," June 9, 2016
v • e
Influencers
MainInfluencer Project Badge.png
v • e
2016 Presidential Candidate Key Staffers and Advisors
OverviewPresidential Campaign Key Staffers Badge.png
General election campaigns
Suspended campaigns
Democratic Party Lincoln Chafee presidential campaign key staff • Martin O'Malley presidential campaign key staff
• Bernie Sanders presidential campaign key staff • Jim Webb presidential campaign key staff
Republican Party Jeb Bush presidential campaign key staff •Ben Carson presidential campaign key staff
•Chris Christie presidential campaign key staff • Ted Cruz presidential campaign key staff
• Carly Fiorina presidential campaign key staff • Lindsey Graham presidential campaign key staff
• Mike Huckabee presidential campaign key staff • Bobby Jindal presidential key staff
•John Kasich presidential campaign key staff • George Pataki presidential campaign key staff
• Rand Paul presidential campaign key staff • Rick Perry presidential campaign key staff
• Marco Rubio presidential campaign key staff • Rick Santorum presidential campaign key staff
• Scott Walker presidential campaign key staff
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=A.J._Spiker&oldid=9517537"