On Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) met and voted to give incumbent Ronna Romney McDaniel an unprecedented fourth term as Chair of the RNC. McDaniel fought off fierce challenges from California Lawyer Harmeet Dhillon and My Pillow founder and President Mike Lindell.
It was a landslide victory for McDaniel, who won 111 of the votes, Dhillon won 51 votes, and Lindell just 4.
“With us united, the Democrats are going to hear us in 2024,” McDaniel said after thanking Dhillon and Lindell for the races that they ran.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had openly backed Dhillon, saying on Thursday, “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC.”
“We’ve had three sub-standard election cycles in a row—’18, ’20, and ’22—and I would say of all three of those, ’22 was probably the worst given the political environment of a very unpopular President [Joe] Biden,” DeSantis said. “Huge majorities of the people think the country is going in the wrong direction.”
The Alabama Republican Steering Committee had made national headlines by voting “no confidence” in McDaniel earlier this month.
“The Alabama Republican Party’s Steering Committee cannot support or endorse Ronna McDaniel for RNC Chair and declare our vote of no-confidence in her leadership,” the Steering Committee said in a statement. “We encourage all RNC members across the country to support new leadership at the RNC Winter Meeting.”
Alabama had three votes: ALGOP Chairman John Wahl, National Committeeman Paul Reynolds, and National Committeewoman Barbara Drummond. It is not known how the Alabama delegates voted as this was a secret ballot.
Most Republican heavyweights, including former President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and former Vice President Mike Pence, had steered clear of the RNC battle.
More than 150 Republican donors endorsed McDaniel in the RNC leadership race.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott endorsed McDaniel.
Sen. Scott said, “[McDaniel] has played a major role in helping turn Florida red and fighting for conservative values across the country. Thank you, Ronna, for all you’ve done to help elect strong Republicans in the Sunshine state!”
McDaniel defended her record as RNC chair and said that it is not her fault that the GOP has not performed better in elections during her tenure.
“I’m not the coach. I don’t pick the players. The voters do. I don’t call the plays. The candidates pick their own plays,” she told Semafor in an interview published earlier this month. “I mean, we defied history in 2018, picking up three Senate seats in a midterm year. We picked up 15 seats in 2020 in the House, which was unprecedented, and then this year, winning back the House,” she also noted at the time.
Dhillon made national headlines when she accused some Alabama Republicans of waging a whisper campaign about her non-Christian religious beliefs (she is an immigrant from India and a member of the Sikh faith).
This election will make McDaniel the longest-serving Chair in the history of the Republican Party.
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