The following bio is that of an event speaker or guest author. This person is not directly affiliated with the John Locke Foundation.
Dallas Woodhouse was the Investigative Political Analyst for Carolina Journal until April 28, 2022.
He has spent two decades examining and managing political and policy operations as a political news reporter, advocate, and leader of three non-profit organizations.
From 2019-2020 Woodhouse served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based non-profit policy organization. Woodhouse was charged with developing, overseeing, and implementing grassroots and advocacy programs for the Institute as well as managing and overseeing public opinion research and storytelling projects highlighting critical issues key to North Carolina that support the company’s vision and short- and long-term plans.
While the Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP), Woodhouse oversaw one of the most successful NCGOP elections ever in 2016. During 2015 and 2016, Woodhouse revived the State Party, retired their substantial debt, hired a successful team, and recruited top candidates.
Woodhouse led a metric-based effort to increase voter registration. Over a two-year period, the NCGOP increased voter registration by more than 100,000 over their partisan rivals. Overall during his time with the NCGOP, the republicans had a net increase of more than 200,000 registered voters compared to the democratic party.
After the NCGOP became financially stable, Republicans were able to win more statewide races than ever before, noting Senator Burr’s reelection campaign and North Carolina’s first-ever Republican majority for the Council of State— including the Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. He also oversaw an expanded supermajority in the State Legislature. Woodhouse was a key player in securing North Carolina’s fifteen Electoral College votes for Donald Trump. He chaired the joint campaign operations effort and served as the lead surrogate for the Donald Trump campaign in North Carolina.
In 2013 Woodhouse Founded and Directed Carolina Rising, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to highlighting the success of conservative policy reforms. Dallas raised nearly 6 million dollars for these efforts used during the 2014 election cycle.
During his time as the North Carolina State Director for Americans for Prosperity, worked with citizen activists, community leaders, and state officials to implement large-scale tax relief and reform. Woodhouse increased active membership by 300% and increased annual revenues by over 200%, leading Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina to become one of the most successful chapters in the nation.
Woodhouse was named “One to Watch” by the News and Observer in 2011 after making significant advances in school choice legislation, including the removal of the cap on charter schools, creation of two broad-based school voucher programs, major deregulation efforts, and ending of forced annexation.
With Woodhouse leading the charge, AFP activists were central in passing medical malpractice tort reform, unemployment insurance reform as well as the largest tax cut in North Carolina’s history in 2013. He worked with Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory to stop a massive expansion of taxpayer funding of political campaigns in 2010, and the two traveled together on the “Hands Off Our Health Care Tour,” leading the opposition to Obamacare in North Carolina.
Woodhouse is a regular guest on national news broadcasts including Fox News, CNN, New York Times and the Washington Post, not to mention his countless interviews and commentary with North Carolina-based media stations.
Woodhouse is known for creating and directing communications efforts from direct mail, earned media, social media campaigns and marketing efforts to gain membership and drive member advocacy.
In the fall of 2014, Woodhouse was featured in a full-length documentary, “Woodhouse Divided,” on Frontline. The film chronicles his three-year crusade against the destructive Obamacare policies, juxtaposed by the efforts of his older brother Brad Woodhouse, a Washington-based liberal political staffer who worked with President Obama in his healthcare campaign.
Woodhouse has an extensive background in rural North Carolina through his previous work at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture under Commissioner Steve Troxler, and with USDA Rural Development, under George W. Bush appointee John Cooper.
Woodhouse has a long history of mentoring young professionals that have advanced to take leading positions at the White House, on the Staff of the Vice-President, in Federal and State Government, as elected officials and as directors of other non-profit organizations.
Woodhouse is a native of Raleigh and holds a Master of Arts from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Campbell University. Woodhouse was also an on-air television host and political reporter. He reported on North Carolina-based war efforts from Bosnia, Qatar and Turkey, as well as London regarding the death of Princess Diana.
Woodhouse is married to the former Christine Ischer, of Oakton Virginia. They have two sons, Jackson and Cooper. Woodhouse is a long-suffering fan of the NC State Wolfpack.