Jared Ryker Woodfill V is a Texas lawyer and political figure who was chairman of the Harris County Republican Party from 2002 to 2014. He was elected chairman of the county party for six two-year terms. After being ousted from the chairmanship of the county party in 2014, Woodfill launched two unsuccessful campaigns for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party. Woodfill is known for his socially conservative views activism, including his opposition to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which was repealed in a 2015 referendum.
Early life and education
Woodfill graduated from Clear Lake High School, the University of Texas at Austin, and St. Mary's University School of Law.
Legal career
Woodfill was formerly affiliated with the firm Woodfill and Pressler, LLP, in partnership with Paul Pressler, a former state judge. Woodfill represented Pressler in a suit alleging inappropriate sexual conduct; the case settled in 2004 for $450,000.
In September 2018, the State Bar of Texas publicly reprimanded Woodfill and ordered him to pay $3,490 in fees and expenses. The Bar determined that "Woodfill had direct supervisory authority over members of his firm who violated the disciplinary rules during the representation in a divorce, and Woodfill failed to take reasonable action."
Republican Party politics
Harris County Republican Party chairman, 2002 to 2014
Woodfill was the chairman of the Harris County Republican Party from 2002 to 2014. During his twelve years as chair, Woodfill focused on socially conservative causes; this emphasis, as well as Woodfill's management style, was controversial within the county party. Woodfill ran unopposed for reelection until 2010, when he was challenged by three others in an election focusing on allegations of fiscal mismanagement and "a blame game" over Republican losses in Harris County in the 2008 elections. Woodfill won reelection in 2010, but four years later was ousted from the chairmanship by engineer-turned-lawyer Paul Simpson, who heavily outspent Woodfill. Woodfill was endorsed by many Texas Republicans on the right wing, including Dan Patrick.
Subsequent activities
Anti-LGBT rights activism
In 2015, Woodfill was a leading opponent of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) championed by Houston Mayor Annise Parker. The antidiscrimination ordinance prohibited "discrimination in city employment and city services, city contracts, public accommodations, private employment, and housing based on an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy." Woodfill opposed the prohibition against LGBT discrimination and worked to get a proposition challenging the ordinance onto the ballot; in November 2015, Houston voters repealed the ordinance; Parker said that the campaign against the ordinance was based on "fear-mongering and deliberate lies."
In 2017, as editor-in-chief of the group Conservative Republicans of Texas, Woodfill endorsed State Senator Lois Kolkhorst's "bathroom bill" and criticized Joe Straus, the Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, for not advancing the legislation.
In 2019, Woodfill represented two plaintiffs who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to block the City of Houston from extending spousal benefits to the same-sex spouses of city employees.