Ronna McDaniel beat back challenges from attorney Harmeet Dhillon and entrepreneur Mike Lindell to win a fourth term atop the Republican National Committee (RNC).
McDaniel’s reelection ensures that she will become the longest-serving party chair since Edwin Morgan, the GOP’s initial chair who served from 1856-1864. She won a secret ballot with 111 votes, while Dhillon garnered 51. Lindell received four votes from the committee. One-hundred sixty-seven of 168 members voted.
167 votes were cat — which means you need 84 to have a majority — Lee Zeldin got one
MIKE LINDELL — 4 votes
HARMEET DHILLON 51
RONNA MCDANIEL – 111MCDANIEL HAS A SOLID VICTORY…
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 27, 2023
“I’m reminded of a Bible verse that Abraham Lincoln famously used from the Gospel of Matthew: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand,” McDaniel said in a stump speech. “We have got to work together. We are going to continue building our historic election integrity program. We are going to continue our unprecedented legal battles against the left. We are going to double down on bringing new voters into our party, and we will expand on our 38 community centers that saw a positive shift in minority voters moving into our party.”
Dhillon and her supporters argued that GOP under-performance and losses in the last three election cycles meant that new leadership was needed. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis echoed those arguments in a Thursday interview with Charlie Kirk. (RELATED: ‘It’s Time For Fresh Blood!’: Lee Zeldin Bows Out Of RNC Chair Race)
“That is an environment that’s tailor-made to make big gains in the house and the Senate and state house – state houses all across the country. And yet that didn’t happen and in fact, we even lost ground in the U.S. Senate, and so you know, I think we need a change,” he said.
McDaniel released a list of more than 100 RNC committee members who supported her candidacy at the same time she announced her bid for the fourth term.