As Republican state chairman , he was automatically a member of the Republican National Committee during the administration of U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan . In 1978 , Strake served as state chairman of the Clements for Governor Committee . Clements won a narrow victory over former Texas Secretary of State and Attorney General John Luke Hill , thus becoming the first Republican Governor elected in Texas in over 100 years . Strake was an alternate delegate to the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City , Missouri , in which all ninety-six Texas delegates were pledged to Reagan , narrowly defeated by the party nominee , President Gerald R. Ford Jr. , who then lost Texas to Democrat Jimmy Carter . Strake served as Texas Secretary of State from 1979 to 1981 and ran unsuccessfully for Texas Lieutenant Governor against Bill Hobby in 1982 , the last year thus far that Texas Democrats swept all statewide elections , including judgeships
1976 Republican National Convention
1976 Republican National Convention
George Strake Jr.