Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is promoting herself to lead the committee for the next two years, arguing she is best positioned to stop former President Donald Trump from creating a third party should he lose the GOP primary election and split the party’s electorate.
McDaniel reportedly made the comments as she spoke privately to the 168 RNC members to back her reelection bid, according to the Washington Post. The chairwoman, who has served in the position since 2017, is seeking a fourth term to the RNC’s top position amid calls from some members of the party to resign.
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McDaniel has also engaged in conversations to make sure that all likely GOP candidates support the party’s eventual nominee, even those who have distanced themselves from Trump in recent years. Those conversations come as McDaniel must navigate a committee that includes both Trump opponents, who accuse the chairwoman of being close to the former president, and some of Trump’s staunchest allies who are backing his reelection.
“The reality is that every time Donald Trump says ‘JUMP,’ Ronna asks ‘HOW HIGH,’” Tennessee Committeeman Oscar Brock wrote in an email to fellow RNC members on Thursday urging the committee to “move on” from Trump, according to the outlet.
Trump is the only Republican to announce his intent to run for president in 2024 so far, but the GOP primary field is expected to grow more crowded in the coming months. It’s not clear if he would create a third party should he lose the primary election, but McDaniel said she could stop him from doing so in order to avoid splitting the Republican vote — promoting a unified vote within the committee as a result.
“The Chairwoman has a close relationship with the former president and many leaders throughout the party,” Emma Vaughn, a spokeswoman for McDaniel’s reelection campaign, told the Washington Examiner. “Her objective will be to bring everybody together behind the eventual nominee to put a Republican in the White House, and she is the best suited to do it.”
McDaniel has faced a growing number of Republicans calling on her to resign, particularly after a lackluster midterm performance in which the party failed to regain control of the Senate and achieved only a slim majority in the House.
The midterm elections led several conservatives to question McDaniel’s leadership openly, with some outright calling for new leadership. At least two Republicans are challenging McDaniel for the top spot, including Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer and RNC committeewoman, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Spokespeople for McDaniel have remained confident the chairwoman will be reelected, pointing to a letter circulated by about 100 members of the RNC in November that showed they would back her run. Meanwhile, Dhillon only has 28 RNC endorsements on her campaign website.
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“Republicans are a big tent party and we need to be unified if we are going to win in 2024,” McDaniel said in a statement on Thursday. “It is in that spirit that I have run this campaign, and it is why I am humbled to have earned the trust and support of so many RNC members.”
The RNC is composed of 168 members, meaning any candidate must get 85 votes to secure the top leadership position. The committee is scheduled to convene next week for its winter meeting, at which members will elect its new leadership.
