Dick Wadhams was elected Colorado Republican State Chairman in March 2007 and reelected in March, 2009. During the 2008 campaign he also served as campaign manager for Senate candidate Bob Schaffer. He worked from 1981 to 1989 for Colorado U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong. He managed the statewide Colorado campaigns of U.S. Senator Hank Brown in 1990 and U.S. Senator Wayne Allard in 1996 and 2002. He was campaign manager for Governor Bill Owens in 1998 when Owens became the first Republican governor of Colorado in 24 years. Wadhams was campaign manager for U.S. Senator John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle which was the first time in 52 years a sitting Senate Democratic leader was defeated for reelection. He also helped Montana U.S. Senator Conrad Burns in his successful reelection campaigns in 1994 and 2000. He served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia in 2005- 2006. Wadhams was born and raised in rural southeastern Colorado where he was a Republican county chairman at age 19 in 1975-1976 and he is a graduate of the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo.