Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel won reelection Friday, clinching a fourth term at the helm of the party.
McDaniel won by a margin of 111-51-4-1, securing her leadership through the 2024 election.
Effectively handpicked by former President Donald Trump in 2017 to run the RNC, McDaniel has focused on party infrastructure — expanding voter rolls, filing election lawsuits, and expanding ballot harvesting and mail-in voting efforts. She told Breitbart News she is creating a party “machine” set to win elections.
RNC Chair Election First Ballot Results:
167 votes cast. 84 needed to win.
Ronna McDaniel – 111
Harmeet Dhillon – 51
Mike Lindell – 4
Lee Zeldin – 1
Ronna McDaniel reelected RNC Chair.
Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 https://t.co/uYWdF9rUK2
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 27, 2023
One of the chief criticisms of McDaniel, echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, has been electoral underperformance nationally, as she oversaw the 2018, 2020, and 2022 election cycles. However, McDaniel says critics should look at states like Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia for Republican wins.
A race that many thought was an inevitable win for McDaniel, her path to victory was not without challenges, as she faced off with lawyer and Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon who was able to pull voting members away from McDaniel and rack up endorsements from prominent donors, politician, and conservative activists.
Both Dhillon and McDaniel are considered strong allies of Trump, and the former president remained publicly neutral, telling Breitbart News, “I like them both.”
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.
