Ronna McDaniel Reelected Chairwoman of Republican National Committee
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Ronna McDaniel won reelection for a fourth term as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee on Friday in a closed-door vote conducted by members.
The incumbent handily defeated California attorney Harmeet Dhillon and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, securing 111 votes to Dhillon’s 51 and Lindell’s four, according to a source present for the vote. There was also one write-in vote for Republican New York congressman and former gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
The GOP’s disappointing losses in the midterm elections prompted factional conflict within the RNC. Some members pitched electing a new leader to the committee who could steward the party to better electoral results.
Ahead of the Friday election, Florida governor Ron DeSantis told Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative Turning Point USA: “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC.”
“I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said about getting the RNC out of D.C. Why would you want to have your headquarters in the most Democrat city in America? It’s more Democrat than San Francisco is,” he said.
McDaniel earned the endorsements of prominent Republican lawmaker Senator Rick Scott as well as major GOP donors Dave Kelsey, Melinda Hildebrand, Dr. James Reibel, Jeff Burns, Bobby Schostak, and Marianne and John Gibson.
“@GOPChairwoman has played a major role in helping turn Florida red and fighting for conservative values across the country,” Scott tweeted. “Thank you Ronna for all you’ve done to help elect strong Republicans in the Sunshine state!”
In December, Dhillon launched a challenge against McDaniel, partially blaming her for the GOP’s repeated failures in multiple election cycles.
“After three successive terms of underwhelming results at the polls for the GOP, all the while with leaders congratulating ourselves for outstanding performance, I feel that we owe it to our voters to have a serious debate about the leadership of the party and what we must change to actually win in 2024,” she said in her announcement.
McDaniel told a crowd of RNC committee members Friday that she was sensitive to objectors while promising to deliver against the Democrats in 2024, the Hill reported.
“We need all of us. We heard you, grassroots. We know. We heard Harmeet, we heard Mike Lindell. But with us united and all of us going together, the Democrats are going to hear us in 2024 when we take back the White House and the Senate,” she said.
