Ronna McDaniel re-elected to fourth term as Chair of RNC
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. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Harmeet Dhillon defends faith in RNC Chair fight with Ronna Romney McDaniel
On Saturday, the 21-member Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee voted “no confidence” in incumbent Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna Romney McDaniel. Harmeet Dhillon is McDaniel’s opponent. There are media reports that some of McDaniel’s supporters in Alabama have criticized the Steering Committee with embracing a non-Christian candidate for RNC Chair in a whisper campaign. California RNC delegate and attorney Harmeet Dhillon is a Sikh. Sikhs are a minority religion in India, where Dhillon was born – the daughter of a doctor and granddaughter of an Indian general. Dhillon is the McDaniel challenger. Dhillon has released a statement responding to the criticism from some of her Alabama detractors. “I would like to take a minute to address concerns that have been raised by a small handful of Alabama Republican Party activists regarding my faith and how that would impact my ability to champion our nation’s Judeo-Christian values that are encapsulated in our Party Platform,” Dhillon said. “In our founding documents, the Founding Fathers gave us a divinely inspired charter for America and for the first time in history declared that our Creator, not government, grants us our rights,” Dhillon continued. “Our Founders recognized how important faith, and our ability to freely exercise it, would be to the long-term success of our great nation. In fact, they considered religious liberty to be so foundational that it is the very first item referenced in the very first amendment of our Bill of Rights.” “As a civil rights and constitutional attorney for thirty years, I have been fighting the woke mob to preserve religious liberty and our constitutionally protected rights for decades,” Dhillon said. “Since 2020 alone, my law firm and nonprofit led three separate COVID-related religious liberty cases to victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, taking on Gavin Newsom and the lower courts for having violated Americans’ right to freely worship and pray together as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Let me be clear, the fact that my clients’ religion differed from my own was immaterial to me and my team’s willingness to defend their God-given right to exercise their faith free from the tyranny of government intrusion. In fact, my firm has represented over a dozen Christian and Jewish congregations and faith leaders in federal and state courts in just the last three years, and many people of faith seeking to enforce their First Amendment rights in the years before that.” Dhillon emphasized her opposition to McDaniel. “After overseeing three consecutive losing election cycles, the current RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has decided to run for an unprecedented fourth term,” McDaniel said. “I’m here to offer this party an alternative. I’m here to redefine what this party sees as victory. Victory can no longer be about raising the most money, winning the most press conferences, or owning the most libs. It must be about winning the most elections, battling back the cultural Marxists, and taking back all of the hills we so shamefully sacrificed. Our party can either adapt or die. I choose adaptation. I believe I can bring the change our party needs to begin the process of taking this country back.” The word Sikh means ‘disciple’ or ‘learner.’ The Sikh religion was founded in Northern India in the fifteenth century by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is a monotheistic religion that draws from both Islam and Hinduism. Sikhism stresses the equality of all men and women. Sikhs reject caste and class systems and believe in prayer and charity. Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world. There are 700,000 Sikhs in the United States. Sikh men are often seen wearing turbans. The Alabama Republican Party has expressed shock that anyone in Alabama has criticized Dhillon for her faith. “Harmeet Dhillon’s letter came as a surprise to the committee,” an ALGOP spokesperson told the Alabama Media Group. “We had not heard anything about her faith or an issue with it before or after Saturday’s meeting.” McDaniel, a Mormon, denied being behind the attacks on Dhillon’s faith. “I wholeheartedly condemn religious bigotry in any form,” McDaniel said in a statement Wednesday. “We are the party of faith, family, and freedom, and these attacks have no place in our party or our politics. As a member of a minority faith myself, I would never condone such attacks. I have vowed to run a positive campaign and will continue to do so.” The RNC, under McDaniel, has spent $900,000 with Dhillon’s law firm. Alabama has three voting delegates on the RNC Committee that will elect the next chair later this month. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Alabama Republican Party votes no confidence in RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel
The Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee voted on Saturday for new leadership at the Republican National Committee (RNC). Incumbent RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel is seeking re-election to the position. The Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee announced that they will not support McDaniel’s re-election. “It’s nothing personal,” Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl told Alabama Today Monday. Wahl acknowledged that there are a number of factors in why the GOP has underwhelmed in recent elections. “It’s not all her fault,” Wahl said, emphasizing the need for a change of direction at the RNC. “We believe that RNC leadership needs a new vision for future elections,” the Steer Committee said in a statement. “We believe that the RNC needs fresh, new leadership who can inspire and lead grassroots Republicans to victory.” “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 concluded. “We encourage all RNC members across the country to support new leadership at the RNC Winter Meeting.” There is growing dissatisfaction with the RNC after the Republican Party lost control of the House in 2018, former Vice President Joe Biden unseated President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, the loss of the Senate when two GOP incumbents were defeated in the Georgia election runoffs, the failure to retake the Senate in 2022, and the GOP’s loss of some gubernatorial races – most notably Arizona – which could have consequences in 2024. Despite this, McDaniel, the niece of U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), is running for a fourth term as head of the RNC. She is being challenged by Harmeet Dhillon, an RNC member from California. Supporters of McDaniel argue that the Republicans did win back control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms and that the RNC has raised $1.5 billion during McDaniel’s tenure – more than any previous RNC Chair. One hundred sixty-eight delegates will decide who leads the RNC moving forward into the 2024 elections at the RNC meetings later this month. The 440-member Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee will meet on February 24th and 25th in Birmingham at the BJCC. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.