Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy (born August 7, 1972)[1] is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, Roy took office on January 3, 2019. Before his election to Congress, he served as chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as first assistant attorney general of Texas. A member of and policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus, Roy is considered a member of the far-right faction of the House Republican Conference.[2][3]
Roy was born in Bethesda, Maryland,[4] and raised in Lovettsville, Virginia. His parents, Don and Rhonda Roy, were conservatives who supported Ronald Reagan and helped shape Roy's political views.[5]
After graduating from Loudoun Valley High School,[6] Roy attended the University of Virginia, receiving a Bachelor of Science in commerce in 1994 and a Master of Science in information systems in 1995.[5] There, he worked as a dorm resident assistant for a year.[7] After graduation Roy spent three years as an investment banking analyst.[5] Wary that his career might require him to relocate to Manhattan, Roy decided to pursue a different career.[5] He enrolled at the University of Texas School of Law, where he met his future wife, Carrah.[5] He graduated in 2003 with a Juris Doctor.
Though initially Roy saw politics "as an avocation, a sort of interest, but not something I would do anytime soon, if ever",[5] his mind began to change when, while still in law school, he began working for then-Texas attorney general John Cornyn on his 2002 campaign for the United States Senate.[7][8] After the September 11 attacks, Roy reflected on his goals. "I was in law school when September 11 happened. I will always remember that moment, crystallized in my head. That had a lot to do with my commitment to public service", he has said.[9] When Cornyn was elected and made vice chairman of the Republican Committee and the Judiciary Committee, Roy served as his staff director and senior counsel. Roy provided counsel for Cornyn and his staff on legislative issues including nominations, intellectual property, crime, civil justice reform and advising him during the immigration reform debates under the George W. Bush administration.[10][11][12] Roy worked for Cornyn until 2009.[8]
Roy returned to Texas as a special assistant in the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.[13] In 2006, Roy met Ted Cruz, then Texas Solicitor General, during a strategy session discussing the case League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, a case about redistricting that Cruz argued before the United States Supreme Court.[11]
Roy resigned from his job as a special assistant U.S. attorney after six months to be a ghostwriter on then-Governor of Texas Rick Perry's 2010 book Fed Up! and work for Perry's 2012 presidential campaign.[4][8][10] The book served as a campaign agenda for Perry's campaign, and offered a range of Perry's positions, including criticism of the Social Security system as unconstitutional (calling it "a Ponzi scheme"), changing the election of U.S. senators back to state legislatures (they were made popularly elected by the Seventeenth Amendment), ending life tenure for federal judges, and repealing the 16th Amendment (which allows a federal income tax).[10] The book also denounces as "overreach" federal efforts to regulate health care, labor conditions, energy policy, and pollution.[10] In the book's acknowledgments section, Perry singled out Roy for "special recognition" for resigning his previous post "to devote himself full-time to the completion of the original manuscript" and his "amazing knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and other Founding documents, and a keen ability to frame federalist arguments in striking terms that make complicated law easier for non-lawyers like me to understand and discuss."[10] In his review of the book, Gene Healy of the libertarian Cato Institute credited Roy as "the guy who did most of the heavy lifting in the book."[10]
On April 1, 2011, Perry announced Roy as his choice for Texas's Director of State-Federal relations, an office whose duties include lobbying for federal funds for state institutions (such as grants to universities).[4][12][13]
During the confirmation hearings for his position before the Texas Senate, Roy said he would oppose an "intrusive federal government that spends our money recklessly."[14] He promised to help Texas legislators "push back on Washington where necessary" and stand up for "liberty, state sovereignty and an end to the crippling pile of debt and regulation coming from Washington that is destroying our nation and endangering the state."[10] When asked about the recent Texas House vote to slash most of the office's funds, transferring them to a tuition reimbursement program for children of the military, he said it was "hardly surprising…I might have voted to cut it as well, based on what I understand of the office, but possibly without hiding behind the political gamesmanship of moving it from one account to another."[14] He promised to consider eliminating the entire office if it didn't "stand for something."[5] Roy's nomination was opposed by Texas State Senator Kirk Watson, who pointed out that the office's mission was "to promote communication and build relationships between the state and federal governments" and asked Roy "when you or someone else" decided to redefine its purpose.[14] The committee approved Roy's nomination, 6–1, with the full State Senate later confirming the nomination.[4] Roy served in the office from April to October 2011.[15]
The week of his 39th birthday in August 2011, Roy was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin lymphoma.[5] He later said his experience battling cancer convinced him of the importance of "health-care freedom", and that examining his medical bills showed him "how truly convoluted our system is."[5]
After Cruz's election to the Senate in 2012, Roy became his chief of staff.[10][16] While working for Cruz, Roy gained attention for criticizing other Republicans who did not join Cruz in demanding Obamacare be defunded before voting to keep the government running past September 30, 2013. During the 2013 United States federal government shutdown, Roy's main tasks were behind the scenes, plotting a course through the media coverage and determining tactics when Republican allies deserted the cause and the party's leadership became increasingly hostile.[7] Roy chastised defecting Republicans, and was quoted as saying Tom Coburn was serving in a "surrender caucus" and likening Mitch McConnell to Barack Obama.[17] Cruz said Republicans who did not join him had fallen into "a powerful, defeatist approach…they're beaten down and they're convinced that we can't give a fight, and they're terrified."[17] Their cause was joined by Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Mark Meadows and Mike Lee.
The media picked up on Roy taking to Twitter to jab John McCain, sarcastically calling it "shocking" that "someone talking to [Democratic Senator Chuck] Schumer 5x a day and the White House daily" did not support the hardball approach.[17] Coburn complained about these tactics to the Washington Examiner, saying: "The worst thing is being dishonest about what you can accomplish, ginning everybody up and then creating disappointment."[17] Roy's response on Twitter gained media attention: "Since when is a promise to fight disastrous policy 'dishonest?' No, the worst thing is giving up & leaving your base believing there is no need to be a Republican any longer."[17] Coburn told a reporter that he had "no ill will" toward Roy: "He knows I'm not part of the surrender caucus."[17] He added: "a good portion of it [Obamacare] is mandatory spending, and the only way to get rid of mandatory spending…is 67 votes because you got to override a presidential veto"[18] and that Cruz's and Roy's tactics would result in the Democrats taking control of the House.[18]
Roy told a reporter that his job was to advance Cruz's priorities, and he had not been told to stand down: "The Washington establishment uses every tool at its disposal to push its own narrative on the American public—and in this case, it's the narrative of 'we can't.' They plant stories, strong-arm members and try to create fake 'wins' for cover that simply do not change the status quo. It is important that we push back."[17] In response to questions about Roy's behavior, McCain said, "He and Senator Cruz are entitled to their opinions, but I don't pay that much attention to that kind of thing because I believe my position. It wouldn't be the first person who has criticized me." Richard Burr, who supported defunding but not threatening to cause a shutdown, also was unmoved by Roy's quips: "It doesn't matter to me what he does. The only thing that's important is that I'm on Senator Cruz's bill to eliminate Obamacare."[17]
On September 25, 2013, Cruz and Roy met with trusted staffers and Cruz read aloud from Psalm 40 (which includes the line "troubles without number surround me") and then took to the Senate floor for a 21-hour speech against Obamacare.[7] Despite such efforts the shutdown did not result in the desired policy change: the Republican leadership brokered a deal with the Democrats, reopened the government, and Obamacare funding was only marginally affected.[7] Politico called Roy an "architect" of Cruz's strategy, and he later told a reporter, "Was I intimately involved with it? Yes. Unapologetically. I think it was the right strategy. And but for the same hand-wringers in the Senate that continue to give us the status quo, we might have been successful."[7][19]
In September 2014, as Cruz contemplated a 2016 presidential campaign, Roy's duties in his office moved from chief of staff to top political strategist.[20][21] During the exploratory phase of Cruz's campaign, Roy and Cruz got into an argument about political tactics and strategy that became heated enough to cause Roy to leave Cruz's Senate staff. Despite the level of disagreement, they discussed working together in the future. Cruz later recalled, "We often agreed, but not always, and we would have vigorous debates. Chip never backs down, and we would have extended discussions about which battles should be the highest priority."[22]
In 2014, despite controversy over the Texas State Securities Board issuing a disciplinary order against him for soliciting investment clients without being registered in the state, Ken Paxton easily won election as Texas attorney general.[23] He chose Roy as his first assistant attorney general,[13][20] saying: "Chip is a longtime friend, and someone whose counsel I trust. I am pleased that he will bring his strong legal mind, devotion to liberty, and servant's heart to the Office of Attorney General as first assistant."[23][24] Roy's continuing battle with cancer influenced his decision to return to Texas, as he wished to be close to his family rather than commute weekly to Washington, D.C. or travel extensively on a presidential campaign.[11]
Stepping into his role in Texas's attorney general's office, Roy confronted over 28,000 active cases, including high-profile cases on voter ID and same-sex marriage.[5] He also participated in the 2015 lawsuit United States v. Texas against President Obama's executive action on immigration. The case challenged the constitutionality of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program.[11] Roy explained Texas's position to reporters: "the U.S. Senate and House aren't doing their job in standing up for and defending [the powers granted only to them by the Constitution's] Article 1, I think it is critical what Texas is doing in stepping up and defending when the president himself said repeatedly he didn't have the power to do this."[11]
In July 2015, a Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton on two first-degree felony counts of securities fraud and a third-degree felony for failure to register as a securities dealer.[25] Paxton maintained his innocence, but news stories continued to focus on the charges. Due to Paxton's decision to work from his home in McKinney rather than the capital in Austin, reporters covering the office's work highlighted the rolls of his solicitor general Scott Keller, his chief of staff Bernard McNamee, and especially Roy.[25] With Paxton avoiding all but the friendliest audiences, speculation arose that Roy was the de facto attorney general.[25]
In September 2015, while praising Roy at the Pflugerville First Baptist Church as one of the "visionaries on this religious liberties issue", Paxton said, "I get credit, sometimes not credit, for what happens in my office."[25] MacNamee soon resigned in frustration over Paxton's behavior. Roy inadvertently drew unwanted attention to the situation in an interview about Texas's challenge to the DAPA program. When a reporter asked him how Paxton's legal problems affected the agency, Roy's response was seen as revealing Paxton's absence from running the office. He said, "We're in constant communication with the attorney general, and we're focused on doing our job every day to defend the state of Texas. ...The first assistant attorney general, the solicitor general, our head of civil litigation, all of us are charged to manage the daily affairs of this agency, and that's what we're doing."[25]
When Paxton's name did not appear in a New York Times piece about a suit against Texas in the Supreme Court over abortion restrictions, his communications staff complained to Keller about it. Paxton traveled to Washington to hear the oral arguments, paying for his own ticket and submitting a copy of it to the state alongside the one his office had purchased for Roy to show how much money he had saved Texas.[25] Eight days after the Supreme Court hearing, Paxton called his communications director, Allison Castle, who could not get any news organization to agree to interview him about the case. He demanded she resign or be fired. He then did the same to Roy, who resigned. Both were placed on emergency leave, which caused further controversy.[25][26][27] Reporters also began to investigate whether Paxton had broken state law in the way he had hired staff: giving people the job before they filled out an application and without first advertising openings before filing them with people from outside the department.[28] Paxton's choice to replace Roy was Jeff Mateer from First Liberty Institute, who had attracted notoriety by offering to represent, pro bono, any business that wished to sue the city of Plano over its anti-LGBT discrimination ordinance.[25]
On March 10, 2016, the day after Paxton announced that Roy had "resigned to pursue other endeavors," he was named the executive director of the Trusted Leadership PAC, which was supporting Cruz's presidential campaign.[13][29][30] The PAC was formed to bring the preexisting separate Cruz-supporting PACs into a single operating structure.[5]
Controversy arose when it was discovered that Roy remained a state employee while working for the PAC. Roy responded that he had not received any pay from the PAC while he was on the state payroll, and only used his accrued vacation and compensatory time from the state after resigning to work for the PAC. This had left open the option for him to receive leave after his vacation and holiday time expired, which would have allowed him to continue receiving health benefits for his cancer treatment. After The Dallas Morning News reported on the matter,[31] Roy fully resigned, maintaining that doing so was the result of a good report from his oncologist.[5]
While working for the campaign, Roy called presidential candidate Donald Trump's conservative credentials into question, at one point tweeting, "@RealDonaldTrump Supports Planned Parenthood, which kills babies and puts them in a freezer, government funding of healthcare and Palestine."[19]
At the time of Roy's hiring, pro-Cruz political consultant (and future Trump campaign manager) Kellyanne Conway had said, "This is a two-person race where Senator Cruz is building significant momentum and is the proven conservative, able to win the nomination and defeat Hillary Clinton,"[30] but Cruz dropped out of the race less than two months after Roy took over the PAC.[5] Despite a scandal about the Cruz campaign's relationship with Cambridge Analytica, Roy and Trusted Leadership PAC had no interaction with the company.[5]
By September 19, 2016, Roy had found employment as the Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment Action for the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank.[32]
.jpg/1280px-Lamar_Smith_(cropped).jpg)
In 2018, Roy ran for the United States House of Representatives in Texas's 21st congressional district to succeed Lamar Smith, who did not run for reelection. Covering his campaign, Politico likened him to Cruz.[19] Roy finished first in an 18-candidate field and received Smith's endorsement in a runoff on May 22 against Matt McCall.[5] Roy said he agreed with Smith in questioning the scientific consensus on climate change which clearly attributes it to human activity.[5]
When he supported Cruz in the 2016 presidential primary, Roy's criticism of Trump caused some of his friends to describe him as committed to the "Never Trump" cause.[19] By 2018, his position had changed. Roy praised Trump's job performance as president, citing his decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords and his results in "regulatory relief, on tax relief, on judges, on the embassy in Jerusalem" and his attacks on "the swamp or the establishment or the status quo or whatever you want to call the inner workings of Washington, D.C."[19][33] Roy also echoed Trump's position about a "deep state", which he defined as "entrenched bureaucrat[s] who hide something from the political decision-makers" causing "pushback from deep within the bowels of each of the agencies."[19] He called for federal agencies "to be thinned out so that we don't have those issues."[19]
Roy promised if elected to push back against the status quo and restrict the federal government's power, calling for Medicare to be delegated to the states, for Congress to pass a balanced budget, and for action to be taken to prevent judges from "legislating from the bench".[5] He suggested that the House should attempt to pass no legislation the next term until it advanced a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.[34] He also held that there were threats from "porous borders, gangs and drug cartels" that he would address if elected.[34] The Club for Growth supported his candidacy.[5] The House Freedom Fund (aligned with the Freedom Caucus in the House) contributed $143,000 to Roy's campaign.[5][35] By February, Cruz joined in campaigning for Roy, telling voters, "I know how he responds under pressure, under heat, and that he won't buckle."[5]
Roy finished 10 points ahead of McCall in the Repu