Chris Dyer

Chris Dyer was a Republican candidate in the 2008 congressional elections for the 1st Congressional District (map) of Nevada. He was seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.). He was defeated in the primary that took place on August 12, 2008.

Bio
Chris Dyer, a veteran and restaurant worker, has lived in Nevada for 10 years. He and his wife have 2 children.

Nevada Republican Convention
On January 19, 2008, Nevada held it's first Presidential Caucuses. Ron Paul won 13.7% of the vote, coming in second behind Mitt Romney with 51%.

On April 26, 2008, Chris Dyer and other Ron Paul supporters launched a successful effort to change the party rules and permit the nominations from the floor of delegates to the National GOP Convention. , and elect delegates for their candidate to the national GOP convention in September.

The first voting at the state convention was for the portion of the delegates that were alloted according to the three congressional districts. The first three delegates elected included Chris Dyer. As the vote counting continued it appeared that Ron Paul supporters would take most of the delegates. When that became clear, the state party leaders abruptly halted the elections claiming that there was not enough time to complete the election.

Chris Dyer was elected as one of three delegates to the national convention in CD1. The count was done by Senator Bob Beers and several prominent officials congratulated Chris on winning his first election. Although the party leadership promised to reconvene the convention in a few weeks, they never did so and eventually a delegate slate was named by the party leadership. The Ron Paul supporters and others held an alternative convention on June 28, 2008 and elected a rival slate of delegates to the national convention. The dispute was heard by a contest committee of the Republican National Convention and the state party leadership was severely criticized in the committee report. The actions of the State Party Leadership were called "inept and unacceptable". Both the slate named by the state party and the slate named at the alternative convention were rejected by the contest committee and the National Party named a new slate of delegates that included mostly party regulars but also those few delegates who were legitimately elected on April 26th including Chris Dyer.

The divisions in the party due to the state convention probably contributed to the defeat of State Senator Bob Beers who was up for reelection. Senator Beers was Chairman of the April 26th convention.

June 28 Rump Convention
Although Ron Paul officially dropped out of the Presidential race on June 12, 2008, Chris Dyer and the Paul supporters continued to push for their slate of delegates to go to the national convention. Dyer helped organize a rump convention of the Nevada GOP on June 28, 2008.

On June 24, 2008, Dyer release a music video on YouTube satirizing Nevada Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden. A message accompanying the video on Dyer's website stated, "As you may know, the Nevada state GOP delegates are coming together on June 28th in Reno. Unfortunately, this has some of the party officials upset. As a candidate for office I'm torn between my supporters and my crush on Sue Lowden, the state GOP chair. In order to express my pain I wrote a song. Please enjoy."

Because the rump convention was not called by the state central committee and fell several hundred attendees short of a quorum, the Republican National Committee refused to recognize the slate of delegates elected there. However, it also refused to seat the slate of delegates named by the party leadership and severely criticized the state party's methods as being "inept" and "unacceptable".

The Nevada GOP scheduled a reconvening on July 26, but not enough delegates responded. Chairwoman Sue Lowden announced the Executive Committee would then select Nevada's delegation.

Lawsuit Against the Nevada Republican Party
In July 2008, Mr. Dyer and a group of approximately two dozen Republican Delegates filed a lawsuit against the Nevada GOP to block the party from selecting delegates to the GOP National Convention. That case was dismissed, and on July 25, 2008 the Nevada Republican Party named 31 delegates to go to St. Paul. According to a statement released by the party, Presidential preference was not a consideration in selecting Nevada's delegates.

2008 elections
Dyer was seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) in the 2008 congressional elections.

Money in politics
http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/HSRefreshCandList.do?category=disH&stateName=NV&congressId=01

Committees
Dyer will be assigned committees if and when he is elected to Congress.

External resources

 * 2008 Race Tracker page on Nevada’s 1st Congressional District
 * "Chris Dyer for Congress." Official Chris Dyer for Congress Website.
 * Paultards Ruin GOP Convention Wonkette, April 28, 2008
 * Dave Nalle GOP In Crisis, Conflict or Common Ground Blogcritics, April 30, 2008
 * Mike Weber, Message from Mike Weber about the Nevada Republican Convention UNR College Libertarians, June 9, 2008.
 * Amanda Becker, "Nevada Ron Paul Supporters Stage Rogue GOP Convention," Huffington Post, June 23, 2008.
 * Chris Dyer Selected as Delegate at Nevada GOP Rump Convention NevadaGOPConvention.com, June 28, 2008.
 * Chuck Muth The Little Convention That Couldn't Muth's Truths, July 17, 2008.
 * Delegates at State Convention Sue Nevada Republican Party MSNBC, July 24, 2008.