McDaniel faced criticism after the RNC reported that it had its worst fundraising year in almost a decade
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel plans to resign from her role, the New York Times reported on Tuesday night.
Two sources familiar with the plans said that the chairwoman has told former President Trump that she intends to step down soon after the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary.
Trump has plans to replace her with Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, who has been a backer of Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. According to sources who discussed the matter with Trump, Whatley is “a stop the steal guy,” per the Times. If McDaniel steps down, a new election must take place before Whatley can take up her post.
McDaniel was elected chairwoman in 2017 after working to deliver Michigan for Trump the year prior — the first time a Republican presidential candidate clinched the state in almost 30 years. Previously Ronna Romney McDaniel, she reportedly dropped her maiden name “Romney” at Trump’s request — the ex-president having clashed with her uncle Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) in the past.
She won a fourth term in 2023, but faced criticism after the Republican party lost multiple elections following 2020 and amid fundraising woes — the RNC reported this week that last year it had its worst fundraising total in almost a decade.
In recent days, Trump has suggested multiple times that he wants McDaniel to step down. When asked about McDaniel during a Fox News interview on Sunday, he said there would “probably be some changes made.” When asked again on Newsmax the following day if she should resign, Trump replied, “I think she knows that, I think she understands that.”