The National Republican Congressional Committee has undergone a minor staff shake-up, replacing its political director and seeing the departure of its research director and one of two deputy finance directors.
Mike Thom has replaced Justin Richards as political director of the House Republican campaign arm. Sources say Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the NRCC chairman, spearheaded the change, preferring Thom, until recently the deputy political director leading the committee’s redistricting strategy, in the top role. The problem seemed to be a lack of chemistry between Emmer and Richards. However, Richards is remaining with the NRCC as an adviser.
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Richards served as NRCC political director in the 2020 cycle, and some Republican insiders familiar with Emmer’s operation say a change is natural after two years in that role and that too much is being made of the change. Additionally, the staffing turnover was independent of the decision to elevate Thom and not part of some wholesale change at the top, Republicans familiar with the changes say.
Matt Wall, the research director, departed of his own volition for another job. Kerry Donnelly, a deputy finance director, also left of her own accord, quitting the NRCC to take a job with a private GOP fundraising firm.
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Changes at the top of the staff organization chart in the middle of an election cycle are unusual for a party’s congressional campaign arm. But recent personnel moves at the NRCC do not appear to stem from any obvious political turmoil. House Republicans are in a strong position to recapture the majority in 2022, and the committee is raising plenty of money, finishing April with a larger war chest than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
House Republicans are emerging from an internal row over former President Donald Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, a virulent Trump critic, was voted out as the conference chairwoman, the No. 3 ranking leadership post. She was replaced with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, an ardent supporter of the former president. Those intra-conference divisions had no bearing on NRCC operations.
