Republican Executive Committee will decide presidential delegates, not GOP voters
The Republican National Convention will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next year to select the Republican nominee for President. On Saturday, the Alabama Republican Party State Executive Committee passed its Presidential Preference Primary Resolution – which details how Alabama’s presidential delegates will be allocated for the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. Much of that remains the same. The major change is that Alabama’s Republican primary voters will still pick the candidates for President of the United States but will not get to pick the delegates pledged to that candidate. In past presidential elections, there were dozens of names on the ballot for voters to select from pledged to each presidential primary candidate. The winning delegates for the candidates with enough votes to be awarded delegates would then represent Alabama at the Republican National Convention. There won’t be any delegates for voters to vote on in the 2024 Republican primary ballot. Voters can still choose which presidential candidate they prefer: Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchison, Chris Christie, etc. The roughly 475-member Republican State Executive will decide who the 50 delegates to the convention are. State Representative Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) introduced the resolution. “Delegates to the convention don’t just nominate the President. They also serve on the rules and platform committees,” Simpson said. “This is party business.” “The best people to make the decisions on how to grow up in the party is to reward the people that have been in the party,” Simpson said. “We know better than anybody who are the workers, who supported the party, who are the Republicans.” “The general public really doesn’t have a clue about the people on the ballot,” Simpson said. State Auditor Andrew Sorrell, who is also the State Executive Committee’s bylaws committee chairman, said that the delegates will still have to pledge to the candidate that they represent before the primary. Alabama will have 50 delegates at the RNC Convention in Wisconsin next year. The Chairman will be one delegate, as will the National Committeeman and the National Committeeman. Those positions are presently held by John Wahl, Paul Reynolds, and Vicki Drummond. The executive committee will then select 26 statewide at-large delegates. Alabama’s seven congressional districts will have three delegates each for a total of twenty-one delegates allocated by congressional district. The 2024 Presidential Preference Primary Resolution keeps the same delegate allotments as previous cycles. Details include the following: A candidate must receive a minimum of 20% of the vote on either the statewide or congressional district level to be awarded any delegates. The 26 statewide at-large Republican delegates will be awarded to the first-place candidate if that candidate receives over 50% of the vote in the state’s Super Tuesday primary. There will be three delegates from each of the state’s seven congressional districts, for a total of 21 delegates. The congressional district delegates will also be awarded to the first-place candidate that receives over 50% of the vote in each of the congressional districts. If no candidate receives over 50% at either the statewide or the congressional district level, the delegates will be awarded proportionally based on primary election results. The state executive committee voted 72% to 28% to approve the bylaw amendment. Since the Republican primary will be on March 5, presumably after the ALGOP’s winter meeting tentatively scheduled for February, there will likely be a special meeting of the State Executive Committee in the Spring to select the delegates. Other items passed at the Saturday meeting include: A ban on campaign donations from the National Education Association (NEA) and its affiliates – including the Alabama Education Association (AEA) – for all Republican school board and superintendent candidates. A resolution condemning President Joe Biden for circumventing the Hyde Amendment and using taxpayer money to fund abortion-related expenses and supporting Senator Tommy Tuberville for standing up to the Biden Administration over its flawed policy. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
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.
Mighty Alabama Strike Force to deploy to Georgia to help Herschel Walker win Senate
Shelby County Republican Party Chair Joan Reynolds spoke at the River Region Republican Club meeting at the Farmer’s Market Café on Tuesday. The Mighty Alabama Strike Force, which she heads, will begin making trips on Sunday to Georgia to help football legend Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator, win the November 8 general election. Walker is challenging Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. Reynolds said that the idea for the Mighty Alabama Strike Force began when then-Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL06) noted that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) needed help with a congressional race in North Carolina and asked Reynolds for her help. “My job was to recruit volunteers and train them,” Reynolds said. “The volunteers were all from in the area. When I got back home, I said I need to get two or three people that can help me. I ended up spending two or three weeks in Durham. I realized then how important volunteers are.” “It started under the Bush Administration,” Reynolds explained of her involvement in out-of-state congressional campaigns. “That is what I have been doing for the last 14 years.” Reynolds said she took her first volunteers from Alabama to a Senate race in Arkansas, where they campaigned in Jonesboro. “In 2012, I was asked to go to Sioux City, Iowa,” to help the Mitt Romney campaign, Reynolds explained. “There was a religious factor there as they (Iowa voters) were not going to vote for a Mormon.” Reynolds is married to Alabama’s Republican National Committeeman Paul Reynolds. “Paul put together a busload,” Reynolds said. “It was a small used school bus, and they went to Sioux City. Coming back, they ran into a problem when they broke down. After that, I realized we needed some money.” “My volunteers did not mind staying in homes, but they would rather stay in hotels,” Reynolds said. “In 2014, we went to Indiana and campaigned for Bill Cassidy. We went to Tennessee and campaigned for Marsha Blackburn. We won both of those.” “In 2016, Donald Trump decided to run,” Reynolds said. “He was such a forceful figure that it was easy to get volunteers. It was also easy to raise money.” “We spend a week, or we won’t go,” Reynolds said of the duration of the trips. “We were asked to go to Florida in 2020.” “In 2021, I was asked by one of my donors to see if we can go to Virginia to go to campaign for Glenn Youngkin,” Reynolds said. “That was the first time we got involved in a governor’s race.” “That was the first time that we had to fly,” Reynolds said. “It was right after we were getting over COVID, and the economy was just opening up. I contacted every bus company in Alabama, and it was cheaper to fly.” Youngkin won his election. “He said it was so important that we came and actually talked to people in the Commonwealth,” Reynolds said. Reynolds asked for help from Republicans across Alabama. “We cannot do it without funding, and we cannot do it without volunteers,” Reynolds said. “We do not charge them (the volunteers) for their rooms or their transportation. There is no administrative fee, and I don’t get one red cent out of it, and that is ok because I don’t do for profit.” Reynolds said that volunteering is demanding. “If you cannot walk three miles, then don’t go,” Reynolds said. “You have to be able to use an iPhone, a google phone, or an android in order to be able to download the maps that we use.” “We do not go to Democrat homes,” Reynolds said. “We will run into some where people have moved and changed homes, but we go to Republican homes. We are strictly about getting out the Republican vote. We have got to get the turnout. The turnout (in the primaries) has been awful. Even in Shelby County, we were at a measly 18 percent.” “Lindy Blanchard is our inhouse Captain,” from the Montgomery area, Reynolds said. “She is going to Savannah.” Pat Wilson with the Montgomery Republican Women announced that Terri Hasdorff will speak to the group on Tuesday, October 26, about her book, Running into the Fire. “I still need poll watchers to make sure that our election is strong as it can be,” Wilson said. “I was disgusted when I looked at our voter turnout last time. Less than 15% of our voters cared enough about our county and state to come out and vote. We need to get people involved.” Greg Pool is the Chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. State Rep. Charlotte Meadows (R-Montgomery) and Republican House District 69 candidate Karla Knight Maddox also spoke to the group asking for their efforts to get out the vote in the Montgomery area. Maddox thanked the River Region Republicans for their help and said she had been working hard traveling around House District 69, campaigning and meeting people. Pool said the latest polling by the Alabama Republican Party has Maddox moving into an evenly split with the Democratic incumbent. Meadows said, “If Karla and I get elected, that will mean a Republican majority on our (Montgomery County) legislative delegation.” To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Steve Flowers: Donald Trump comes to Alabama
Former President Donald Trump paid a visit to the Heart of Dixie last week. Obviously, this is Trump country. Alabama was one of Trump’s best states in the 2020 Election. He got an amazing 65% of the vote in our state. If the turnout for his August 21 rally in rural Cullman County is any indication, he would get that same margin of victory this year if the election were held again. Many of those in attendance were insistent that Trump won last year’s presidential contest and that it was stolen from him. The event was held on a desolate rural north Alabama farm. It was reminiscent of the 1969 Woodstock event in rural New York. In fact, our newly minted U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville referred to it as “Trumpstock.” Tuberville nor I either one attended Woodstock, but we are old enough to know about the legendary music and imbibing event. It was also reminiscent of some of the old George Wallace rallies in the 1960’s – only much larger. The rally drew an enormous crowd. Estimates said there were 45,000 Trumpites in attendance, and I am not an expert on estimating crowds, but I do not disagree with that number. It took me 30 minutes to walk through the crowd to get to my car. Trump is truly an entertainer, and Alabama is truly Trump Country, although there were quite a few folks in attendance from neighboring states. I was very appreciative to be given a VIP front row private reception invitation to the event. Allow me to share some of my observations. Coach/Senator Tommy Tuberville won his seat in the U.S. Senate because Trump endorsed him. It is obvious that Trump and Tuberville like each other and have bonded. Tuberville ran for and is in the Senate for the right reason. He wants to spend some of his retirement years giving back to this country. Tuberville was not groomed to be a politician. He is a football coach, but he is doing a good job representing Alabama in Washington. He has put together a good staff headed by veteran Stephen Boyd. They are doing a good job with constituent service. Tuberville looked jovial, relaxed, and dapper when he spoke prior to Trump. Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth gave a great speech. It was fiery and almost George Wallace level. He is a true conservative. He has two young sons who accompanied him to the rally. They are very gentlemanly young men who are always courteous and mannerly. Attorney General Steve Marshall gave an excellent speech. It was conversational, sincere, and well-received. Congressman Robert Aderholt was spectacular and gave a great speech and welcome. He represents Cullman in congress. His 4th Congressional District gave Trump the largest percentage votes of any congressional district in the country. Aderholt looks like a congressman. He is polished and erudite but has a grassroots appeal. His people in North Alabama love him. Mo Brooks spoke and was fiery as ever. Trump has endorsed him in the senate race. However, Trump only endorsed him once on this night. There is a lot of internal discord among the Republican Party membership. It appears that the Mo Brooks supporters have taken over the Republican Party hierarchy and that this Trump event was a Mo Brooks rally. Trump probably was asked to temper his Brooks endorsement. Indeed, Mo Brooks’s opponents, Katie Britt, Lynda Blanchard, and Jessica Taylor were all in attendance. Several state senators were there, along with the aforementioned state constitutional officers. I saw Greg Reed from Jasper, Tom Whatley from Auburn, along with hometown Cullman Senator Garlan Gudger, and PSC Commissioner Jeremy Oden, also from Cullman County. In addition, Secretary of State John Merrill and Jefferson/Shelby Congressman Gary Palmer were in attendance. It was good to see some of the old, longtime, 50 year Republican Party faithful founders there – Elbert Peters from Huntsville, Joan and Paul Reynolds from Shelby County, and Vicki and Mike Drummond from Jasper. They were laboring in the Republican vineyards before it was cool to be a Republican and still are. I had a chance to see Trump closeup. He looks amazing for 75. People age differently. He is a lot more cognizant and alert than 78-year-old Joe Biden. If you made me bet, I would say that Trump is running for President in 2024 and that he will carry Alabama. Happy Labor Day. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column is seen in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at: www.steveflowers.us.
