EXCLUSIVE — Ronna McDaniel is confident she will secure a fourth term as leader of the Republican National Committee despite Southern states’s attempts to unseat her.
In a conversation with the Washington Examiner, the RNC chairwoman touted the written support of two-thirds of states — more than enough to win the 51% of votes she will need to win the election at the party’s winter meeting in California at the end of the month.
“The members of the RNC who are grassroots volunteers and are elected and really understand what the RNC does, I have the vast majority of support,” McDaniel said in a phone call Wednesday. “I have two-thirds of their support with their names in writing on a letter.”
Several states have announced they’ve lost confidence in McDaniel primarily over the results of the previous three elections, including the one last year in which Republicans failed to win a Senate majority and only won the House by a small margin. Alabama became the latest defector on Monday, joining other states, including Arizona and Texas.
EL PASO FAITH AND COMMUNITY LEADERS PLEADS WITH SENATORS OVER GROWING BORDER CRISIS
McDaniel maintained that the RNC was not to blame for shortcomings in congressional elections last November.
“You need the road and the car to get to your destination. We built the road. The candidates are the cars and it takes both, and I’m not candidate bashing,” McDaniel said. “The RNC doesn’t pick the candidates; the voters do. We don’t do the messaging for the campaigns. That’s up to each individual candidate. But if you look at what the RNC is responsible for, which is turning out the vote, 3 million more Republicans turned out than Democrats.”
Nevertheless, problems are being addressed and fixed ahead of 2024, she said. In the Senate, candidates were first-time contenders, meaning they came in with no experience from previous campaigns. Inexperienced candidates can mean no fundraising infrastructure and less-than-ideal campaign consultants, which are areas she is working on now to improve the party’s chances next year.
McDaniel has championed diversity in the party’s candidates, as well as its base, which she explained was not just for the sake of political correctness but intended to establish an open dialogue with historically Democratic communities.
“This is a thing where continuity in a chairmanship helps create a long-term vision. You don’t turn over the reins of a billion-dollar corporation every two years and have success,” she said. “How do we engage communities that we are not showing up in enough, and it’s not just, ‘Can we get your vote?’ … This has been the initiative that has driven me and it’s my passion, but I think it’s long-term. We have to keep that investment in these communities.”
It is the first time in a decade that more than one person has contended against an incumbent. McDaniel is running against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Harmeet Dhillon, a national committeewoman for the California GOP and lawyer who represented former President Donald Trump in his legal battles contesting the 2020 election results.
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McDaniel will need 85 or more of the 168 votes cast on Jan. 27 to win.
