In April, Neal Dikeman, Class of 1998, was named Texas’ Libertarian candidate for the United States Senate. Dikeman will be facing Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke in the November 6th election.
Dikeman was born and raised in Houston. A third generation Aggie, he double majored in history and economics and graduated a year early. He said he was the first person in the Class of 1998 to receive his Aggie ring. Dikeman was a part of Lechner Hall and was one of the original 15 members of the Nerd Frisbee group on campus. He was also part of the MSC Wiley Lecture Series and was the programs director of the MSC L.T. Jordan Institute.
Dikeman said he still keeps in touch with several of his professors and that Texas A&M played a major role in influencing his political aspirations.
“You know when you talk about a topic like immigration, my first understanding that immigration policy was a thing came from my very first economics professor here,” Dikeman said. “This is a tremendous school… You have a chance here to get active, get involved. You learn that life is a participatory sport, and you also get a grounding in the underlying language of the policies.”
After graduating, Dikeman went into investment banking for oil and gas before he moved to California and got involved in tech. He ran business development for the parent company of Yellowpages.com and then helped start a firm and co-founded half a dozen tech companies.
A venture capitalist and entrepreneur, this will be Dikeman’s first political campaign. Dikeman said the main reason he is running for Senate is because he wants to make a change for his two daughters.
“I’ve got a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old,” Dikeman said. “They are the reason I’m running… This is about sending a message and making [Congress] listen. That’s why I did it. Somebody’s got to… You don’t want to wake up when you’re 60-years-old and your daughter asks why things aren’t better and not have an answer. You might as well get in the game.”
Dikeman describes his political views as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. He said he knows running not only against high-profile candidates, but also as a Libertarian in Texas means he will face many hurdles.
“I’m running as a third-party for a couple of reasons,” Dikeman said. “People need a choice. Everyone talks about not liking choices in politics, but if we want [to change that] someone actually has to do something about it, so I’m very happy to be that choice. We’re here to make an impact… Our message resonates with people because the middle matters.”