Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel announced on Monday that she will officially step down from her role on March 8.
McDaniel’s decision on her departure date came shortly after former President Donald Trump defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the South Carolina Republican primary by more than 20 points, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
A statement released by McDaniel says that she is looking to honor the Republican National Committee tradition of undergoing change “once we have a nominee.”
“I remain committed to winning back the White House and electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November. I want to thank my husband Patrick, our children Abigail and Nash, the members of the 168 who elected me four times, President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead our party, as well as the RNC staff and donors who have supported me and our mission over the years,” McDaniel continued in the statement.
While Trump and Haley remain in the race for the party nomination, the former president is currently the heavy favorite.
McDaniel’s resignation followed scrutiny from multiple candidates earlier in the race, including former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who claimed during a debate that the Republican Party has “become a party of losers at the end of the day.”
“It is a cancer to the Republican establishment. I speak the truth. I mean, since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022. No red wave. That never came. … And I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” Ramaswamy continued, as reported by The Hill.
Trump previously said that McDaniel did a good job “when she ran Michigan for me” but suggested it might be time for her to move along. “I think she did OK initially in the RNC,” Trump said, per NBC News. “I would say right now there’ll probably be some changes made.”
The former president has since endorsed North Carolina Republican Party chair Michael Whatley to be the next RNC chair, noting that he would also like to see his daughter-in-law Lara Trump serve as the committee’s co-chair, per Politico.
Whatley is not guaranteed to be the next chair since the party is required to hold a private vote, though it is likely that he will be voted in to align with the wishes of the likely Republican Party presidential candidate.
