Dem
51
GOP
49
On Friday, The RNC elected Ronna Romney McDaniel to a fourth term as chair, giving her 111 votes to 51 for Harmeet Dhillon. Pillowman Lindell managed to get 4 votes. McDaniel was handpicked by Donald Trump in 2017 and has chaired the Committee since then. She raised lots of money, but Republicans lost the House in 2018 and then the Senate and the White House in 2020. In 2022, they eked out a win in the House but lost another seat in the Senate. Some Republicans blame her for these losses, and most of those supported Dhillon. But any dispassionate observer would blame Donald Trump, and not McDaniel, for all of them. The 168 RNC members tacitly admitted that when they reelected McDaniel.
What interests us here is that although Trump picked McDaniel he didn't endorse her this year. Still, she has defended him through thick and thin and she can be legitimately seen as his candidate. Also, some of his top aides whipped votes for her. On the other hand, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) urged "new blood" for the RNC, which was a not-very-subtle way of endorsing Dhillon. So in the first race where a Trump proxy faced off against a DeSantis proxy, the Trump proxy won.
Will anything change now in the RNC? Probably not a lot, except that some of Dhillon's supporters grumbled about how the grassroots was going to be angry. Will that impact the Republican presidential primaries? Again, probably not, as so many other factors are more important. McDaniel has said she won't take sides in any upcoming primaries. Will the grassroots supporters of Dhillon vote for any Democrats in 2024 to punish the RNC? Out of the question.
Several POTUS wannabes showed up at the RNC meeting in Dana Point, CA, including Mike Pompeo and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. It can't hurt to butter up RNC members, some of whom are the chair of their state party. You never know when you might need their help. (V)