Cynthia Brehm

Cynthia Turner Brehm, formerly known as Cindy Speer
Chairman of the Republican Party for Bexar County, Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office  June 11, 2018
Preceded by	Mark Dorazio
Born	May 11, 1960
Spouse(s)	(1) Missing (2) Norman Brehm Daughter from first marriage: Lauren Marue Brehm
Residence	San Antonio, Texas
Occupation	Businesswoman
Religion	Christianity

Cynthia Turner Brehm, formerly known as Cindy Speer (born May 11, 1960), is the chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party, based in San Antonio, Texas. She was chosen by voters in the runoff election held on May 22, 2018, to succeed the interim chairman, Mark Dorazio, who like Brehm is considered a staunch conservative in the party, which also has a considerable Moderate Republican wing associated with former state House Speaker Joe Straus and departing U.S. Representative Will Hurd of Texas' 23rd congressional district.

Dorazio was not a candidate for a full-term as Bexar County chairman in the March 6 primary but remained the Precinct 3091 chairman. Brehm, who lost a 2015 bid for mayor of San Antonio and a 2017 race for the District 8 seat on the city council, led the four-candidate field for county chairman. Other candidates in the March 6 primary were Dwight Parscale, who had lost the interim election to Dorazio, and finished the primary with 21 percent of the ballots cast. JoAnn Ponce Gonzalez (23 percent), a former agent with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms who carried considerable business support, entered the May 22 runoff with Brehm. Andres Holliday finished fourth with the remaining 11 percent of the vote.

A descendant of original settlers from the Canary Islands who were instrumental in the founding of San Antonio, Brehm defeated Ponce Gonzalez in the runoff contest with nearly 70 percent of the ballots cast.

As soon as she was elected chairman, it was reported that Brehm had refused to reveal details of her husband's reported sexual abuse of minors. Norman Brehm is a retired military officer since employed by General Dynamics Corporation in Afghanistan. The two have lived apart for seven years. She resides in a $647,000 home in the wealthy Dominion neighborhood which they co-own. He can visit her only occasionally because of the distance between Texas and Afghanistan. Patty Gibbons, a past Brehm supporter and critic of former state House Speaker Joe Straus, said that she is appalled to learn of Norman Brehm's indecency case and questions Cynthia Brehm for trying to keep the matter private. In an email on May 25, 2018, Brehm said that her husband "sadly got into pornography and did something absolutely stupid. He flashed my 14-year-old daughter." Norman Brehm escaped prosecution on an indecency charge because his case was forward after expiration of the statute of limitations. On May 13, 2009, the sentence for the indecency charge was set aside by the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals. In July of 2018, the San Antonio Express News reported that this was not the Norman Brehm's first accusation of child sexual abuse. U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) looked into a series of allegations against him covering the period from 1983-88, including acts of sexual assault against children and exposing minors to pornography. The CID's investigation "established probable cause to believe LTC BREHM committed the offenses of Forcible Sodomy, Indecent Acts and Liberties with a Child, when on numerous occasions he forced (name redacted) to perform oral sodomy upon him, indecently assaulting (her) and exposing her to various forms of adult and child pornography." The Army court system ultimately found him guilty on charges of indecency with a child and making a false statement.

Tylden Shaeffer, the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Bexar County District Attorney in the November 6 general election against the Democrat Joe D. Gonzales, said that he is "extremely troubled" by the Brehm revelation and called upon her to step down "today" as the party chairman. Gibbons said that she fears Brehm's presence in the campaign will alienated party donors and damage the campaigns of down-ballot Republicans in the fall. Brehm refused to resign as party chairman despite the questions raised.

Six months into her tenure as party chairman, Brehm was jolted when the Democrats, with Beto O'Rourke in his challenge to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and Lupe Valdez in her long-shot bid against Governor Greg Abbott, swept Bexar County in the mid-term election held on November 6, 2018.

Brehm led in the primary election for a second term as chairman in the primary on March 3, 2020. She now enters a runoff contest on May 26 with John Austin, the owner of JBA, Inc., a real estate appraisal company. Austin takes conservative positions on issues but maintains that Brehm has failed to lead a united party in critical elections. Austin is endorsed by the four preceding Webb County chairmen, including his campaign treasurer, San Antonio attorney Roy Barrera, Jr., chairman from 1992 to 2004, and Robert Stovall, the chairman from 2013 to 2017. Austin's wife, the former Daphne Previti, is an attorney and former judge of the Texas 289th District Court, with service from 2015 to 2018, when she was unseated by a Democrat, Carlos Quezada. Daphne Austin is the Republican nominee seeking the District 386 judgeship in the forthcoming general election on November 3, 2020. In that contest she faces the Democrat Jacqueline Valdés, who easily outpolled Austin in their respective primaries on March 3.