Editor’s note: Big Tent Ideas always aims to provide balancing perspectives on the hottest issues of the day. In the article below, Convention of States President Mark Meckler argues that Ronna McDaniel shouldn’t be re-elected to lead the Republican National Committee, citing recent electoral losses. A counterpoint column can be found here, where Washington, D.C., Republican National Committeewoman Ashley MacLeay endorses McDaniel for another term, due to her efforts in fighting for election integrity.
Kevin McCarthy’s speakership vote should have sent a clear message to GOP establishmentarians everywhere: conservatives have real power to leverage against Establishment-era Republicans, and they aren’t afraid to use it. (RELATED: ASHLEY MACLEAY: Ronna McDaniel Has Been Key To The Election Integrity Fight. That’s Why I’m Endorsing Her)
Even before the battle began on the floor of Congress, polling from Trafalgar Group and Convention of States revealed that Republican voters were dissatisfied with Republican Party congressional leadership. Capitalizing on the frustration of their constituents, a small band of Congressmen rebelled against the status quo and successfully managed to break up business as usual in our broken federal government.
Now, conservatives have the same opportunity to break up business as usual in the upcoming Republican National Committee election to select the next chairperson.
The hard truth is that Republican voters are disillusioned with and disenfranchised by the national GOP leadership at the RNC. Today’s party “leadership” is fraught with dysfunction, and voters are ready for a change — which means the current RNC Chairperson Ronna McDaniel’s job is on the chopping block.
Currently seeking an unprecedented fourth term, the current RNC Chair doesn’t have a lot to boast of. Since she took the position in 2017, the party lost the House in 2018, the White House and Senate in 2020 and squandered its 2022 “red wave.”
McDaniel is not solely to blame, of course, but under her management, Republicans are on a horrible losing streak. And voters are sick of it.
In the same Trafalgar/COS poll that identified Republican voters’ frustration with Congressional leadership, it was discovered that 73.5% of Republican voters say the party should elect someone new to serve as chairperson of the RNC.
Only 5.6% say McDaniel deserves a fourth term.
And a follow-up, head-to-head poll between the two RNC candidates found that 86% of Republican voters support Harmeet Dhillon, McDaniel’s opponent, to be the next Republican National Committee Chairperson.
All voters want is to stop President Joe Biden and the radical left, but business as usual has brought progress to a screeching halt. It often seems GOP leadership in Congress and at the RNC aren’t focused on fighting for conservative principles or even winning a majority, but rather keeping themselves in power and funding the permanent political consultant class.
McDaniel, rather than addressing the dissatisfaction amongst GOP faithful, took to Newsmax and bashed the results of the unfavorable poll. “That’s a junk poll,” she alleged, “and it was done in a junk way, so you can make a poll say anything … it was done at a convention of states, it was a handpicked audience. I mean, if you look at the metrics on that poll, it’s just not real.”
Yet anyone can clearly see that the poll, contrary to what McDaniel may say, was not conducted at a convention, and is not a “handpicked sample,” but rather is a nationwide, scientific poll conducted by one of the most reliable and respected pollsters in America, The Trafalgar Group.
If Republicans want new leadership and to start winning elections (and clearly they do), then it seems that the RNC should be the first place to reflect that change.
McDaniel’s RNC has performed so poorly, it was forced to appoint a “Republican Party Advisory Council” to review its failed tactics.
The RNC has also been criticized for reportedly squandering donor money on superfluous expenditures. According to one report, the RNC has spent millions of dollars on luxury travel, private jets, spa and cosmetics, Rhoback, Lululemon, Ralph Lauren, Carhartt, Broadway shows, football and Top Golf games since McDaniel took charge in 2017.
Does any of this sound like a serious effort to advance conservative principles and stop the left? According to The Hill, as of last month 107 RNC members have indicated they will back her; well above the needed only 84 votes to win.
But that support may be weakening.
The entire Texas Republican Executive Committee voted 62-0 in favor of replacing McDaniel.
“[T]he grassroots have lost faith in Chairman McDaniel and the RNC and believes the Party needs new leadership that will address deficiencies in fundraising, messaging, GOTV, and election integrity and put the party in closer alignment with its grassroots supporters and voters,” Texas declared.
Alabama followed suit, stating it “cannot support or endorse Ronna McDaniel for RNC Chair.”
“The RNC has betrayed its supporters, and I for one will never help them raise another red cent until the Judas elements of the organization have been purged,” lamented one disenchanted donor.
Apparently that sentiment is spreading, as a group of GOP mega donors announced they are supporting Dhillon as the replacement for McDaniel.
And the same applies for the grassroots donors. The Convention of States/Trafalgar poll found a looming fundraising crisis if the RNC ignores the frustration of the base. 44% of Republicans said they are now hesitant to donate to the GOP or GOP candidates, with the same number saying they are now open to sending their money to grassroots organizations instead.
The grassroots nationwide know failure when they see it and are rising up to protest McDaniel, yet party leadership is unwilling to budge.
Even if it is too late to replace McDaniel this time around, just like the Republican “20” in Congress, we can make huge demands of those who purport to represent us, and refuse to back down until they concede.
Conservatives stood their ground and won some real victories in the House; why can’t we win another one at the RNC?
This isn’t a battle about personalities, or which political insider deserves what. This is about no longer being content with funding failure in the GOP and being satisfied with nominal results.
It’s time to hold accountable — and in some cases replace — anyone who refuses to embrace the urgency of fighting the radical left that has overtaken the Democratic Party and is actively destroying American principles and the American dream.
Business as usual is no longer enough. The American people demand and deserve so much more.
Mark Meckler is an attorney who was co-founder of the Tea Party Movement, served as interim CEO of Parler, and is President of Convention of States, one of the largest grassroots movements in America today with over million active members.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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