Chris Devaney served as Chairman of the

Tennessee Republican Party The Tennessee Republican Party (TRP or TNGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Tennessee. Since the mid-1960s, the state has become increasingly Republican. The current chairman of the Republican Party of Tennessee is Sco ...

from 2009 to 2015.Tennessee Republican Party
GOP
/ref>Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney wants to stay as Tennessee GOP head
''

Chattanooga Times Free Press The ''Chattanooga Times Free Press'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is distributed in the metropolitan Chattanooga region of southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It is one of Tennessee's majo ...

'', November 8, 2012Tom Humphrey
Chris Devaney Gets Another Term at the TNGOP Helm
''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...

'', December 2, 2012

Early life

Chris Devaney was raised in

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,352. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that ...

. He graduated from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in political science.

Career

He started his career as a journalist for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Radio News in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and later worked in media relations for the

Republican Conference of the United States Senate The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the Republican senators in the United States Senate. Over the last century, the mission of the conference has expanded and been shaped as a means of informing the media of the opin ...

. In 1994, he moved to

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

to work on

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

's campaign for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. and later worked for Senator Thompson in Washington, D.C. and Tennessee. He later served as a senior staff member for

Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Gr ...

, Senator from Texas. In 2005, Devaney became executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party. and helped

Bob Corker Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rela ...

's 2006 senatorial campaign. Devaney became state director to Senator Corker shortly after his election. Devaney was elected chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party in 2009, and was re-elected in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Under his leadership, Republicans in Tennessee gained supermajorities in the Tennessee General Assembly, majorities in the Congressional delegation, and majorities in county and judicial elections statewide. In 2015, Devaney was appointed as executive director of th
Children's Nutrition Program of Haiti
a non-profit that works to prevent and rehabilitate those suffering from childhood malnutrition. Businessman Bill Lee hired Devaney as campaign manager for his insurgent and successful campaign for governor in Tennessee. He was later asked to join the Lee transition team and was appointed t

cabinet as special assistant to the Governor. In June 2019, Devaney resigned his position to immediately lead Dr. Manny Sethi's campaign for U.S. Senate in Tennessee.

Personal life

He is married to Heather Devaney, and they live in

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...

, a suburb of

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. They have four children, and are members of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devaney, Chris Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Texas Republicans University of Oklahoma alumni Tennessee Republicans Politicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee