Ronna McDaniel Wins Re-Election to Fourth Term as RNC Chair

DANA POINT, Calif. – Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel won re-election on Friday, bringing to an end nearly two months of barbs and accusations amid a major fight for the future of the GOP.

“With all of us united, the Democrats are going to hear from us in 2024,” McDaniel spoke on the podium after the secret ballot results were announced.

McDaniel received the support of 111 members of committees who cast ballots in a secret vote for chair. This was more than the majority needed to secure a four-year term as RNC’s director, which is unprecedented in modern history. The vote was held on the last day RNC’s winter meeting, which was held this year at a luxury seaside resort in southern California’s Orange County. Lee Zeldin (ex-gubernatorial candidate in New York), received one vote. He had considered running, but was not nominated for the race.

Harmeet Dhillon (a California committee member) was the main challenger to her chair. 51 members supported Dhillon’s win. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump’s unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and who ran a long-shot bid for chair, received only 4 votes.

DESANTIS WEIGHS IN, TRUMP STAYS NEUTRAL, IN GOP CHAIR BATTLE

As the GOP elected its leader, the RNC showdown became a bitter family feud. The GOP entered an election cycle to try and win back the White House, secure its fragile control over the House, and regain the Senate majority. It also came as the party aims to rebound from a disappointing showing in November’s midterm elections and as it debates the future of the party and Trump’s continued grip over the GOP.

Charlie Kirk, the leader of the conservative advocacy group TurningPoints USA, was disappointed by McDaniel’s win. 

“It shows that a majority of the members of the RNC have contempt for the people that put them there,” Kirk said this to Fox News Digital. “I cannot in good faith tell our audience… to keep giving money to the RNC. In fact I tell them not to.”

McDaniel, the Michigan GOP chair, was Trump’s handpicked choice After he was elected to the White House in 2016, McDaniel took over the steering of the committee. He was also re-elected in 2019 and 2021. McDaniel urged stability while Dhillon, who served as a top Trump legal adviser, ran an insurgent campaign stressing that change was needed following the Republican Party’s lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms, which many in the GOP expected to be a red wave election.

McDaniel spoke exclusively to Fox News ahead of the election and said that RNC members were his concern. “trust my leadership, and they know this is a critical, pivotal time that we cannot take down the infrastructure of the RNC and then be successful in 2024.”

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McDaniel is a prolific fundraiser for national party since her tenure as the chairwoman. According to McDaniel’s team, the chairwoman has hauled in a record $1.5 billion during her tenure, traveled more than half a million miles and held more than 330 donor events.

However, McDaniel’s electoral setbacks in November, when Republicans failed to win the Senate, and lost key gubernatorial elections, along with 2018 when the party lost its House majority, and 2020 when it lost control over the Senate, have sparked calls for a change in leadership.

Mike Lindell participates in a debate for the RNC chair in Dana Point (California) on Wednesday
(Fox News)

“The job of politics is elections, and it’s a binary choice. If we win, they lose and vice versa. And we’ve had too much losing over the last few years,” Dhillon told Fox News In a sit-down interview, on the sidelines RNC meeting.

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Ahead of the highly anticipated vote one of the most popular Republicans in the GOP gave his opinion on the race as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Call for “a change” And urged “new blood” The RNC. Dhillon was the conservative governor, who has seen his standing among conservatives in the country rise over the past three year.

Trump, who arguably remains the GOP’s most popular and influential politician, and the only major contender to date to launch a 2024 presidential campaign, remained neutral, saying he liked both McDaniel and Dhillon.