RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Step Down

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel will resign her post soon, according to a report published by the New York Times on Tuesday night.

Two sources familiar with McDaniel’s plans said she intends to step down shortly after the Feb. 24 Republican South Carolina primary. She has briefed former President Donald Trump on the matter, the sources said. As for her replacement, Trump is likely to push for the appointment of North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley, who has backed Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged. A source told the Times that Whatley is “a stop the steal guy.”

McDaniel has been a loyal supporter of Trump, who is the favorite to win the GOP presidential nomination. Last month, she took a highly unusual step as a party chair and urged Nikki Haley to drop her challenge to the former president. In 2017, Ronna Romney McDaniel reportedly dropped her maiden name “Romney” after Trump reportedly asked her to. Her uncle is Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), with whom Trump has repeatedly clashed over the years.

McDaniel has come under increased scrutiny in recent election cycles, which have seen Republicans underperform expectations. Under her stewardship, the GOP lost the House in 2018, the Senate in 2020, and failed to retake the Senate in 2022 while only retaking the House with a narrow majority.

Trump has not made her job any easier. In the most recent cycle, he endorsed several Senate candidates who raised concerns among Republican insiders. Those concerns were vindicated when not only did the GOP not take the Senate, but it lost a seat.

The RNC has also struggled to raise money, as the group has just $8 million and $1 million in debt. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign boasts $42 million in cash on hand.

This is a developing story.