CV NEWS FEED // Former President Donald Trump endorsed North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Trump also endorsed his daughter-in-law Lara Trump for the position of RNC co-chair. Lara Trump previously worked as a television producer and is married to the former president’s middle son, Eric.
“The RNC MUST be a good partner in the Presidential election,” Trump wrote in a Monday statement. “It must do the work we expect from the national Party and do it flawlessly.”
The Republican frontrunner specified that this “means helping to ensure fair and transparent elections across the country, getting out the vote everywhere … and working with [the Trump 2024 presidential] campaign” to defeat the Democrats in November.
“For these reasons, I think my friend Michael Whatley should be the RNC’s next leader,” Trump wrote. He added that Whatley “has been with me from the beginning” and “has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina.”
Trump called his daughter-in-law a “talented communicator” who “is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for.”
“She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!” he added.
Whatley is a lawyer who currently also serves as the RNC’s general counsel. He has helmed the North Carolina Republican Party since 2019. Trump carried the swing state by just over a point in the 2020 presidential election – the first during Whatley’s leadership of the state party.
In the same capacity, Whatley oversaw North Carolina’s hotly contested U.S. Senate races, both of which resulted in Republican victories. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, won re-election by 1.8% in 2020, while now-Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, captured an open seat by a three-point margin in 2022.
Last week, the Associated Press (AP) reported that incumbent RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel “has discussed the possibility of stepping down during a private meeting with [Trump].”
The AP added that McDaniel and Trump agreed to “delay a decision until after South Carolina’s” February 2024 primary, stressing that “McDaniel has not formally decided to leave her position.”
Per FOX News: “McDaniel addressed the speculation last week in a letter to RNC members, reassuring them that she was still hard at work as RNC chairwoman, ‘building a machine that will elect Republicans up and down the ballot in November.’”
FOX also specified that “[i]f McDaniel does resign, her replacement would need approval from a majority of the 168 RNC committee members.”
McDaniel has served as RNC chairwoman since 2017. Her tenure in the role has come under increased scrutiny following multiple election cycles in which the Republican Party suffered crushing defeats.
Compared to the day McDaniel assumed her current post, the Republican Party has now lost the presidency, lost control of the U.S. Senate, lost 19 net House seats, and lost seven net governor’s mansions.
Following the 2022 midterm elections – in which observers widely characterized the Republican Party’s performance as a disappointment – journalist Alayna Treene, then with Axios, noted that McDaniel “has thus far failed to preside over a single positive election cycle.”
Drew McKissick is the current co-chair of the RNC, having assumed the role in January 2023. He succeeded Tommy Hicks, who did not seek re-election as McDaniel’s deputy.
RNC rules stipulate that its chair and co-chair be of opposite sexes. Therefore, if McDaniel is to be replaced with Whatley or another man, McKissick must be replaced with a woman.
