Ronna McDaniel wins re-election to fourth term as RNC chair
Ronna McDaniel won re-election to a fourth term as Republican National Committee chairwoman Friday, besting insurgent challenger Harmeet Dhillon.
DANA POINT, Calif. — Ronna McDaniel won re-election to a fourth term as Republican National Committee chairwoman on Friday, besting insurgent challenger Harmeet Dhillon in a secret ballot vote at the party’s annual winter meeting.
McDaniel easily secured a majority of the 168 votes needed to win, with 111 votes compared to 51 for Dhillon, four for MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and one for former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who was not a candidate.
McDaniel is now on track to be the longest-serving GOP chair since the 19th century. She joins Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in staving off challenges to their leadership following Republicans' disappointing performance in the November midterm elections.
The contest was seemingly a foregone conclusion for months. McDaniel released an endorsement letter from more than 100 of the RNC's 168 members shortly after the midterms — support that led to Zeldin deciding not to launch his own bid to lead the RNC.
But with the vote held by secret ballot, and Dhillon's aggressive campaign arguing that McDaniel should not be re-elected after GOP shortcomings in November, members did not write Dhillon off ahead of the vote. Publicly, roughly 30 RNC members had committed to Dhillon ahead of the ballot.
Rating: 5