TDP Chair Boyd Richie Will Not Seek Another Term

Today, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie announced that he will not seek another term.

In a press release, the three-time candidate said that "there is always a little friction between running for the position and doing the job." Along with his wife Betty, a popular Democratic stalwart, Richie said he reached the decision that the party "needs a chair who is not encumbered by also being a candidate."

He's not going anywhere immediately, though. He has 14 months left in his current term and indicated that he intends to make the most of them.

"Now more than ever, Democrats must unite," he said, "because a Republican political agenda that threatens to shut down government, schools and nursing homes is one that has turned its back on the people."

Richie, a lawyer by trade, easily retained his post despite a challenge for his post by Edcouch schoolteacher Michael Barnes during the party's 2010 convention in June. A few short months later, the November elections ushered in an overwhelming Republican supermajority.