Robin Armstrong is an American politician and physician who served as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2006 to 2010. He was elected at the state convention held in San Antonio on June 3, 2006, to succeed the term-limited David Barton from Aledo in Parker County west of Fort Worth. Armstrong defeated Internetgrassroots organizer, Bobby Eberle of Pearland near Houston. In April 2020, Mr. Armstrong garnered controversy by utilizing his personal political connections to conduct a non-clinical study over the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, a long-used anti-malarial medication recently given Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA for use on COVID-19 patients, but remains politically controversial because of Trump's announced support for its use.
On June 14, 2008, Armstrong was elected to a second term as vice chairman at the state Republican convention held in Houston. Tina Benkiser, a Houston attorney, was elected to her third full term as state party chairman. Under Texas law, each major party must at all times have a woman as either its chairman or vice chairman. One of the two positions must be held by a man. Benkiser resigned as chairman on October 5, 2009, to join the reelection campaign of Governor Rick Perry. Under party rules, the chairman must remain neutral in primary election campaigns. Perry faced a challenge from U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary held on March 2, 2010. Benkiser was succeeded by Cathie Adams, a conservative activist and Republican national committeewoman from Plano. Adams was elected to fill the position by the Republican State Executive Committee at a special meeting at party headquarters in Austin. She served until the state convention held on June 12, 2010, when she was unseated by Steve Munisteri of Houston. At the 2006 convention, Texas Republicans affirmed their opposition to affirmative action in their state platform and then chose Armstrong, who is African-American, as vice chairman. Armstrong has been active in the grassroots of the GOP, as a city chair, an election judge, a precinct chair, a poll watcher, a convention delegate, a Senatorial District Convention chairman, and most recently as the State Republican Executive committeeman for Texas Senate District 11, which covers parts of Galveston, Harris, and Brazoria counties. He is a member of the Galveston Pachyderm Club, and the Texas Eagle Forum. He opposes abortion. He was reared in a political household. His father, Robert Armstrong, was a member of the nonpartisanLa Marque IndependentSchool Board. Armstrong said that he hoped to see the United States stop its "drifting away from the values that made her great." According to Armstrong, the GOP must "expand our conservative base to maintain our party's success in the future. It is not enough to preach to the choir; we must continue to grow by reaching out to people of faith, professional groups, and minorities who have been abandoned by liberalism." Armstrong said that he would work closely with Benkiser to win the "cultural war" and to secure GOP majorities into the future. In March 2015, Armstrong, along with Jared Woodfill of Harris County and Wade Emmert, chairman of Dallas County, was an unsuccessful candidate for state Republican chairman. The 62-member Republican Executive Committee instead chose Tom Mechler of Amarillo to fill the position on the third secret ballot in a special meeting in Austin. The vacancy occurred when Steve Munisteri stepped down to become a consultant to U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Mechler and Cathie Adams had lost the chairmanship race to Munisteri at the 2010 convention in Dallas. In 2017, Mechler resigned as chairman.
Personal life
Armstrong and his wife Martha, who is also a medical doctor, have four sons.
