James C. Roddey, a onetime Allegheny County Executive, is stepping down as chair of Allegheny County’s Republican Committee after eight years. Party stalwarts and former foes alike hailed his tenure, which will end March 4, at a time when such bipartisan warmth is increasingly rare in politics.
“It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience,” Mr. Roddey said at the party’s annual Spirit of Lincoln Dinner held Monday night at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, Downtown. “I’ll still be around. Even though I’m getting a little older, I still have 27 years more to work.”
He said during his tenure the party raised $1.3 million and now has more Republicans than any other county in the state.
In an interview last week, Mr. Roddey said that at age 83, “I do need to cut back. … It’s time for someone new.”
“He’s been a wonderful Republican leader in the county and nationally,” said Rob Gleason, who chairs the state Republican Party. Mr. Roddey “has a great political mind,” he said, and “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like him.”
“He was a worthy adversary and a good friend,” former Allegheny County Democratic Chair Jim Burn said. “And you always knew he was going to bring his ‘A’ game.”
Such bipartisan warmth is increasingly rare in politics, and Mr. Roddey is often ranked in a line of pragmatic Western Pennsylvania Republicans including former Gov. Tom Ridge, the late Senator John Heinz and the late Elsie Hillman.
Mr. Roddey said that such voices have been “at risk for a long time. … I think the days of the moderates being a majority of the party are gone.” Nor is he shy about criticizing the GOP’s presidential front-runner, businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump.