EXCLUSIVE: A group of more than 30 Republican Jewish leaders have backed Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for reelection.
In a letter sent to the RNC’s 168 members on Thursday, the group urged the committee to back McDaniel’s reelection bid, pointing to her leadership as being crucial to making “significant inroads” with Jewish Americans and increasing turnout among the voter bloc.
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“Under her leadership she opened 38 community centers, including the first-ever Jewish Community Center in southern Florida, helping to create the largest percentage of Jewish Republicans on Election Day in partnership with our Republican Jewish Coalition,” the members wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Ronna helped lead significant inroads with Jewish Americans, including celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month as well as standing up and condemning anti-Israel statements, antisemitism, the university campus BDS movements, just to name a few. These actions can be controversial, but it has not stopped Ronna from standing firm and side by side with the Jewish community.”
The group praised McDaniel for her tenure as the head of the RNC, particularly touting the chairwoman for her fundraising efforts over the last five years. McDaniel has raised more than $1.5 billion for GOP candidates since 2017, according to the RNC — more than any other chair who has held the position.
“In 2022, the RNC built upon its historic ground game to ensure we took back the U.S. House of Representatives which was powered by a grassroots army and a data-driven ground game made possible by Ronna and her team raising record sums of dollars,” the letter stated. “We urge the Republican National Committee to re-elect Ronna McDaniel at the upcoming RNC Winter Meeting for reasons that are important for our country and for Jews in America and our country’s most reliable ally Israel.”
The letter provides a major endorsement for McDaniel as she seeks reelection. At least two Republicans are challenging McDaniel, including Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer and RNC committeewoman, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. McDaniel initially faced a high-profile challenge from Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who later bowed out but maintained that McDaniel should step down.
The Republican Party has been divided on who to back in the race, with several GOP megadonors splitting their endorsements between McDaniel and Dhillon.
A group of 20 megadonors endorsed Dhillon to replace McDaniel in a letter sent to the RNC on Monday, citing the GOP’s disappointing performance in the midterm elections as evidence the party needs leadership changes. However, McDaniel still holds the support of several of the party’s top donors, as well as the endorsement of RNC Financial Chairman Duke Buchan III and former Financial Chairmen Todd Ricketts, Ray Washburne, and Ron Weiser.
McDaniel has faced a growing number of Republicans calling on her to resign, particularly after a lackluster midterm performance when 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.
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. The RNC is comprised of 168 members, meaning any candidate must get 85 votes to secure the top leadership position.
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The committee is scheduled to hold its winter meeting at the end of the month in Dana Point, California, where members are expected to elect their new leadership.
