The Republican National Committee on Thursday elected Ronna Romney McDaniel its new chairwoman.
McDaniel, who served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, was President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the RNC heading into the 2018 midterm elections. She succeeds Reince Priebus, who will become Trump’s White House chief of staff.
“I am a mom from Michigan. I am an outsider. And I am here to make Donald Trump and Republicans everywhere successful,” McDaniel said in a speech to RNC members in Washington, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president.
Under Priebus, the RNC invested more than $100 million to build a permanent field and data analytics programs. The Trump campaign, at the candidate’s directive, outsourced the bulk of the field and data operations to the RNC, and the incoming president came away impressed with how the party performed for him.
As a result, Trump consulted with Priebus on who should replace him as RNC chairman. Priebus wanted a leader who would continue to invest in field and data; Trump wanted a loyalist — usually an obvious consideration but not so in Trump’s case. Many GOP insiders had opposed his nomination, and some preferred Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election.
McDaniel, who supported Trump early on and also has a deep attachments to the party, satisfied both concerns. Bob Paduchik, Trump’s Ohio campaign director, was elected vice chairman of the RNC after getting the nod from the president-elect late last year.
“I am leaving an organization that has become almost a second home to me. But I’m not at all concerned about what will become of it,” Priebus said in a speech to the RNC. “Because the RNC is in the best possible hands with our new Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and our new Co-Chair Bob Paduchik.”
