Founded | June 1856; 168 years ago |
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Location |
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Coordinates | 38°53′07″N77°00′20″W / 38.88538°N 77.00552°W |
Key people |
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Affiliations | Republican Party |
Website | www |
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. [3] It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It does not have direct authority over elected officials. [4] It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention. When a Republican is president, the White House controls the committee. According to Boris Heersink, "political scientists have traditionally described the parties' national committees as inconsequential but impartial service providers." [5] [6]
Similar committees exist in every U.S. state and most U.S. counties, although in some states party organization is structured by congressional district, allied campaign organizations being governed by a national committee. Michael Whatley is the current committee chairman. [7]
The Democratic Party's counterpart to the RNC is the Democratic National Committee.
The 1856 Republican National Convention appointed the first RNC. It consisted of one member from each state and territory to serve for four years. Each national committee since then has followed the precedent of equal representation for each state or territory, regardless of population. From 1924 to 1952, there was a national committeeman and national committeewoman from each state and U.S. possession, and from Washington, D.C. In 1952, committee membership was expanded to include the state party chairs of states that voted Republican in the preceding presidential election, have a Republican majority in their congressional delegation (U.S. representatives and senators), or have Republican governors. By 1968, membership reached 145. As of 2011, the RNC has 168 members. [8]
While a number of the chairs of the RNC have been state governors, the only person to have chaired the RNC and later become U.S. president is George H. W. Bush. During Bush's time as RNC chair, Spiro Agnew was being investigated for corruption, which would later lead to Agnew's resignation as vice president. Bush assisted, at the request of Nixon and Agnew, in getting John Glenn Beall Jr., the U.S. Senator from Maryland, to pressure his brother, George Beall the U.S. Attorney in Maryland, to shut down the investigation into Agnew. Attorney Beall ignored the pressure. [9]
In 2013, the RNC began an outreach campaign towards the American youth and minority voters, after studies showed these groups generally perceived that the Republican Party did not care about their concerns. [10]
During the presidency of Donald Trump, the RNC showed staunch loyalty to President Trump, even at times when prominent Republicans did not. Under Ronna McDaniel's leadership, the RNC ran ads for Trump's 2020 campaign as early as 2018, put numerous Trump campaign workers and affiliates on the RNC payroll, spent considerable funds at Trump-owned properties, covered his legal fees in the Russian interference investigation, hosted Trump's Fake News Awards, and criticized Trump critics within the Republican Party. [11] Two days after the January 6th riot at the Capitol following the controversial 2020 presidential election results, the RNC held an event where members expressed loyalty to the President. [12]
In February 2022, the RNC censured two Republican representatives, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, for their participation in the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol; the censure statement described the committee as a "Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse." [13] The censure of sitting congressmembers, and particularly the description of the January 6 events as "legitimate political discourse", received bipartisan criticism from politicians and media. [14] [15]
In May 2024, The Associated Press reported that under Lara Trump, the RNC had "sought alliances with election deniers, conspiracy theorists and alt-right advocates the party had previously kept at arm's length." [16] It also noted the prevalence of election deniers had increased among top Republican officeholders and RNC officials as part of a larger election denial movement in the United States. [17]
The Republican National Committee's main function is to assist the Republican Party of the United States. It helps to promote the Republican political platform and the "party brand" or image. It is more focused on campaign and organizational strategy than public policy.
It helps coordinate fundraising and election strategy, as well as organizing and running the Republican National Convention.
According to Jim Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee:
“The party can’t coordinate with these Super PACs and neither can the campaigns so there’s a lot more chaos . . . .And the party structure clearly has a diminished role because they don’t have the resources they used to have.” [18]
This section needs expansionwith: is the committee itself the entire organization or is their paid staff and volunteers, what is the internal structure and subcommittees if any, how is the election of committee members and its leadership and other officers structured, what are the relationships to state and county committees. You can help by adding to it. (January 2021) |
Since March 8,2024, [update] the Republican National Committee has been co-chaired by Lara Trump and Michael Whatley. [19] [20]
The previous chair of the Republican National Committee was Ronna McDaniel, serving from 2017 to 2024. McDaniel was chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017. [21]
In January 2019, Thomas O. Hicks Jr. was elected co-chairman of the RNC. Hicks has a strong connection to former President Trump's campaigns and policy initiatives, having served as chairman of the America First Action PAC and America First Policies, and as national finance co-chairman for Donald J. Trump for President. [21]
Similar committees to the RNC exist in each U.S. state and most U.S. counties. The RNC also organizes volunteer groups for specific interests, such as the Black Republican Activists, GOP Hispanics, RNC Women (not to be confused with National Federation of Republican Women), GOP Faith, Asian Pacific Americans, Young Leaders, and Veterans & Military Families. [21]
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
---|---|---|---|
Haley Barbour | 60 | 66 | 90 |
Spencer Abraham | 47 | 52 | 57 |
Bo Callaway | 22 | 19 | 18 |
John Ashcroft | 26 | 20 | Withdrew |
Craig Berkman | 10 | 8 | Withdrew |
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim Nicholson | 23 | 30 | 38 | 65 | 74 | * |
David Norcross | 41 | 46 | 47 | 50 | 47 | Withdrew |
Steve Merrill | 42 | 42 | 43 | 46 | 43 | Withdrew |
John S. Herrington | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Withdrew | - |
Tom Pauken | 22 | 24 | 21 | Withdrew | - | |
Chuck Yob | 17 | 18 | 12 | Withdrew | - | |
Robert T. Bennett | 15 | Withdrew |
On November 24, 2008, Steele launched his campaign for the RNC chairmanship with the launching of his website. [26] On January 30, 2009, Steele won the chairmanship of the RNC in the sixth round, with 91 votes to Dawson's 77. [27]
Source: CQPolitics, [28] and Poll Pundit. [29]
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Michael Steele | 46 | 48 | 51 | 60 | 79 | 91 |
Katon Dawson | 28 | 29 | 34 | 62 | 69 | 77 |
Saul Anuzis | 22 | 24 | 24 | 31 | 20 | Withdrew |
Ken Blackwell | 20 | 19 | 15 | 15 | Withdrew | - |
Mike Duncan | 52 | 48 | 44 | Withdrew |
On announcing his candidacy to succeed RNC Chairman Duncan, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele described the party as being at a crossroads and not knowing what to do. "I think I may have some keys to open the door, some juice to turn on the lights," he said. [30]
Six people ran for the 2009 RNC Chairmanship: Steele, Ken Blackwell, Mike Duncan, Saul Anuzis, Katon Dawson and Chip Saltsman. After Saltsman's withdrawal, there were only five candidates during the hotly contested balloting January 30, 2009.
After the third round of balloting that day, Steele held a small lead over incumbent Mike Duncan of Kentucky, with 51 votes to Duncan's 44. Shortly after the announcement of the standings, Duncan dropped out of contention without endorsing a candidate. [31] Ken Blackwell, the only other African-American candidate, dropped out after the fourth ballot and endorsed Steele, though Blackwell had been the most socially conservative of the candidates and Steele had been accused of not being "sufficiently conservative." Steele picked up Blackwell's votes. [32] After the fifth round, Steele held a ten-vote lead over Katon Dawson, with 79 votes, and Saul Anuzis dropped out. [33] After the sixth vote, he won the chairmanship of the RNC over Dawson by a vote of 91 to 77. [34]
Mississippi Governor and former RNC chair Haley Barbour has suggested the party will focus its efforts on congressional and gubernatorial elections in the coming years rather than the next presidential election. "When I was chairman of the Republican National Committee the last time we lost the White House in 1992 we focused exclusively on 1993 and 1994. And at the end of that time, we had both houses of Congress with Republican majorities, and we'd gone from 17 Republican governors to 31. So anyone talking about 2012 today doesn't have their eye on the ball. What we ought to worry about is rebuilding our party over the next year and particularly in 2010," Barbour said at the November 2008 Republican Governors conference. [35]
Michael Steele ran for re-election at the 2011 RNC winter meeting. [36] Other candidates were Reince Priebus, Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman, Ann Wagner, former Ambassador to Luxembourg, Saul Anuzis, former Republican Party Chairman of Michigan, and Maria Cino, former acting Secretary of Transportation under George W. Bush. Steele's critics increasingly called on him to step down as RNC Chair when his term ended in 2011. A debate for Chairman hosted by Americans for Tax Reform took place on January 3 at the National Press Club. [37] [38] The election for Chairman took place January 14 at the RNC's winter meeting with Reince Priebus winning on the seventh ballot after Steele and Wagner withdrew.
Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reince Priebus | 45 | 52 | 54 | 58 | 67 | 80 | 97 |
Saul Anuzis | 24 | 22 | 21 | 24 | 32 | 37 | 43 |
Maria Cino | 32 | 30 | 28 | 29 | 40 | 34 | 28 |
Ann Wagner | 23 | 27 | 32 | 28 | 28 | 17 | Withdrew |
Michael Steele | 44 | 37 | 33 | 28 | Withdrew |
Priebus won re-election with near unanimity in the party's 2013 meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. [39] He was re-elected to a third term in 2015, setting him up to become the longest serving head of the party ever. [40]
After winning in November 2016, President-elect Donald Trump designated Priebus as his White House Chief of Staff, to begin upon his taking office in January 2017; David Bossie of Maryland was seen as a potential next RNC chairman. [41]
Trump then recommended Ronna Romney McDaniel as RNC Chairwoman and she was elected to that role by the RNC in January 2017. McDaniel was re-elected in 2019 and 2021. [42] Mike Lindell announced that he would challenge McDaniel in 2023. Lindell accused McDaniel of not denying the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election forcefully enough, and criticized her for presiding over the RNC during three disappointing election years. [43] McDaniel was re-elected in to a fourth term in January 2023, easily defeating Lindell and California RNC committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon. [44]
Candidate | Round 1 |
---|---|
Ronna McDaniel | 111 |
Harmeet Dhillon | 51 |
Mike Lindell | 4 |
Lee Zeldin | 1 |
Candidate won majority of votes in the round
On February 6, 2024, The New York Times reported that McDaniel intended to resign after the South Carolina Republican presidential primary held on February 24, 2024, following dissatisfaction from former president Donald Trump, who publicly supported North Carolina Republican Party chair Michael Whatley. [45] [46]
McDaniel confirmed these reports when, on February 26, 2024, she and Drew McKissick announced their resignations as chair and co-chair of the RNC effective on March 8, 2024. [47] Later that same day, Michael Whatley, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, announced that he would seek the position of RNC chair.
Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former president Donald Trump, also announced on February 28 that she would seek to succeed McKissick as co-chair of the RNC. [48] Both Whatley and Trump gained the endorsement of former President Trump.
Whatley and Trump were both elected via acclamation as chair and vice-chair of the Republican National Committee on March 8, 2024.
A collapsible list of the voting members of the Republican National Committee follows, as of March 2024 [update] . [49] The state chair, national committeeman and national committeewoman each receive one vote at RNC meetings and vote for RNC Chairmanship.
State | Chairperson | Committeeman | Committeewoman |
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Alabama | John Wahl | Paul Reynolds | Vicki Drummond |
Alaska | Ann S. Brown | Craig Campbell | Cynthia Henry |
American Samoa | Will Sword | Frank Barron | Amata Radewagen |
Arizona | Gina Swoboda | Tyler Bowyer | Lori Klein Corbin |
Arkansas | Joseph Wood | Jonathan Barnett | Mindy McAlindon |
California | Jessica Patterson | Shawn Steel | Harmeet Dhillon |
Colorado | Dave Williams | Randy Corporon | Vera Ortegon |
Connecticut | Ben Proto | John H. Frey | Leora Levy |
Delaware | Julianne Murray | Hank McCann | Mary McCrossan |
District of Columbia | Patrick Mara | José Cunningham | Ashley MacLeay |
Florida | Evan Power | Peter Feaman | Kathleen King |
Georgia | Josh McKoon | Jason Thompson | Ginger Howard |
Guam | Juan Carlos Benitez | Eddie Baza Calvo | Shelly Gibson |
Hawaii | Tamara McKay | Gene Ward | Laura Nakanelua |
Idaho | Dorothy Moon | Bryan Smith | Cindy Siddoway |
Illinois | Kathy Salvi | Richard Porter | Demetra DeMonte |
Indiana | Vacant | John Hammond | Anne Hathaway |
Iowa | Jeff Kaufmann | Steve Scheffler | Tamara Scott |
Kansas | Mike Brown | Mark Kahrs | Kim Borchers |
Kentucky | Robert Benvenuti | John McCarthy | KC Crosbie |
Louisiana | Louis Gurvich | Roger Villere | Lenar Whitney |
Maine | Joel Stetkis | Joshua Tardy | Ellie Espling |
Maryland | Nicole Harris | David Bossie | Nicolee Ambrose |
Massachusetts | Amy Carnevale | Brad Wyatt | Janet Fogarty |
Michigan | Pete Hoekstra | Robert Steele | Kathy Berden |
Minnesota | David Hann | Alex Plechash | Barb Sutter |
Mississippi | Frank Bordeaux | Henry Barbour | Jeanne C. Luckey |
Missouri | Nick Myers | Gordon Kinne | Carrie Almond |
Montana | Don Kaltschmidt | Art Wittich | Debra Lamm |
Nebraska | Eric Underwood | William Feely | Fanchon Blythe |
Nevada | Michael McDonald | James DeGraffenreid | Sigal Chattah |
New Hampshire | Chris Ager | Bill O'Brien | Juliana Bergeron |
New Jersey | Bob Hugin | Bill Palatucci | Virginia Haines |
New Mexico | Steve Pearce | Jim Townsend | Tina Dziuk |
New York | Ed Cox | Joseph G. Cairo Jr. | Jennifer Rich |
North Carolina | Jason Simmons | Ed Broyhill | Kyshia Brassington |
North Dakota | Sandra Sanford | Shane Goettle | Lori Hinz |
Northern Mariana Islands | Diego Benavente | Edward Deleon Guerrero | Irene Holl |
Ohio | Alex Triantafilou | Jim Dicke | Jane Timken |
Oklahoma | Nathan Dahm | Larry Murray | Charity Linch |
Oregon | Justin Hwang | Solomon Yue Jr. | Tracy Honl |
Pennsylvania | Lawrence Tabas | Andy Reilly | Christine Toretti |
Puerto Rico | Angel Cintrón | Luis Fortuño | Zoraida "Zori" Fonalledas |
Rhode Island | Joe Powers | Steve Frias | Sue Cienki |
South Carolina | Drew McKissick | Glenn McCall | Cindy Costa |
South Dakota | John Wiik | Ried Holien | Sandye Kading |
Tennessee | Scott Golden | Oscar Brock | Beth Campbell |
Texas | Abraham George | Robin Armstrong | Toni Anne Dashiell |
US Virgin Islands | Gordon Ackley | Jevon Williams | Antionette Gumbs-Hecht |
Utah | Robert Axson | Brad Bonham | Anne-Marie Lampropoulos |
Vermont | Paul Dame | Jay Shepard | Suzanne Butterfield |
Virginia | Rich Anderson | Morton Blackwell | Patti Lyman |
Washington | Jim Walsh | Jeff Kent | Marlene Pfiefer |
West Virginia | Matt Herridge | Larry Pack | Beth Bloch |
Wisconsin | Brian Schimming | Tom Schreibel | Maripat Krueger |
Wyoming | Frank Eathorne | Corey Steinmetz | Nina Webber |
In February 2014, during the chairmanship of Reince Priebus, the RNC launched an in-house technology incubator called Para Bellum Labs. [50] This new unit of the RNC was first headed by Azarias Reda, an engineer with a PhD in computer science from the University of Michigan. The effort is designed to help the party and its candidates bridge the technology gap. Para Bellum, translated from Latin, means "prepare for war." [51]
In September 2019, McDaniel emailed Doug Manchester, whose nomination to become Ambassador to the Bahamas was stalled in the Senate, asking for $500,000 in donations to the Republican Party. Manchester responded, noting that his wife had given $100,000 and that his family would "respond" once he was confirmed by the Republican-led Senate to the ambassadorship. Manchester copied the email to aides of two U.S. senators whose support he needed to win confirmation. CBS News described McDaniel's action as a "possible pay-for-play scheme" for the ambassadorship. [52] [53] The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in May 2021 that a federal grand jury had issued a subpoena in a criminal investigation into Manchester's nomination, apparently focused on the RNC, McDaniel and RNC co-chair Tommy Hicks, "and possibly members of Congress". TheUnion-Tribune reported the investigation began in 2020. [54]
Michael Stephen Steele is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2009 until 2011; he was the first African-American to hold either office.
The Michigan Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in Michigan, United States, sometimes referred to as MIGOP.
Robert Michael Duncan is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2007 to 2009. Throughout his career, he has served on the boards of a variety of public- and private-sector organizations. Duncan was chairman, president, and CEO of Inez Deposit Bank in Inez, Kentucky, which merged with First State Bank in February 2021. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service and previously served as its chairman.
Ronna Eileen Romney is an American Republican politician and former radio talk show host.
Katon Edwards Dawson is an American politician from the state of South Carolina, former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and was a 2009 candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee.
The 2009 Republican National Committee chairmanship election started out as a six-way race, and ended on the sixth ballot with Michael Steele becoming the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Washington Times called it the "'Dirtiest ever' race for RNC chairman."
James Nicholas Ayers is an American political strategist and consultant who served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence between July 2017 and January 2019. He had previously served as national chairman for Pence's vice-presidential campaign in 2016, as well as executive director of the Republican Governors Association from 2007 to 2010.
The 2011 Republican National Committee (RNC) chairmanship election was held on January 14, 2011, to determine the next chairman of the RNC, to serve a two-year term ending in 2013 and will lead the party through the 2012 general elections. After seven rounds of balloting, Reince Priebus was elected chairman over incumbent chair Michael Steele, Saul Anuzis, Ann Wagner and Maria Cino.
Reinhold Richard "Reince" Priebus is an American lawyer and politician who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017 and as White House chief of staff during the first six months of Donald Trump's first presidency.
Donald Matthew Moore is an American political commentator and Republican political strategist who served as the 18th chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party from 2013 to 2017. For most of his two terms, he was the youngest state chairman in America's two major political parties.
Ronna Romney McDaniel is an American political strategist who served as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2017 until her resignation in 2024. A member of the Republican Party and the Romney family, McDaniel was chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017.
The 2017 Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairperson election was held in January 2017, to determine the next chairperson of the Republican National Committee. The elected chair will be in charge of the national party activities during their two-year term.
Katherine Marie Walsh is an American Republican political operative who served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation in the Donald Trump administration. She also worked with the Trump-aligned 501(c)(4) advocacy organization America First Policies.
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon is an American lawyer and Republican Party official. She is the former vice chair of the California Republican Party, and a National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California. She is the founder of a law practice called Dhillon Law Group Inc. In 2018, she helped launch the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Center for American Liberty, which does legal work related to civil liberties. She is a regular guest on Fox News.
Robert Anthony Paduchik is an American political advisor who served as the co-chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2019. He was also a senior advisor for the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign. He was also the campaign's Ohio state director in 2016.
The 2024 Republican National Convention was an event in which delegates of the United States Republican Party selected the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election. Held from July 15 to 18, 2024, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it preceded the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which took place from August 19 to 22 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The 2023 Republican National Committee (RNC) chairmanship election was held on January 27, 2023, in the United States, to determine the next chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Martin Andrew McKissick is an American politician who has served as chair of the South Carolina Republican Party since 2017. In 2023, he was re-elected to his fourth term in the office. McKissick also served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee from 2023 to 2024, when he was replaced by Lara Trump.
Michael Whatley is an American politician and lawyer who has served as chair of the Republican National Committee since March 2024. Before this, he was chair of the North Carolina Republican Party for five years, the last year of which he also served as the RNC's general counsel.
The 2024 Republican National Committee (RNC) special leadership elections were held on March 8, 2024 in Houston, Texas, to determine the next Chair, Co-Chair, and Chief Operating Officer of the Republican National Committee.
William J. Campbell of Chicago will succeed himself as the representative of Illinois on the National Republican committee. Mr. Campbell says he does not want the office and that he will make no effort for it, but he will be elected with few if any dissenting votes...
Priebus was re-elected to his second term with near unanimity in 2013 at the party's meeting in Charlotte
Priebus was elected Friday in a resounding vote to serve a third term as chairman of the Republican National Committee, putting him on course to become the longest serving head of the national party in history.
The RNC Tuesday is announcing the formation of Para Bellum Labs, an in-house technology incubator that combines the committee's data-analytics arm with its digital-marketing unit.
the RNC last week unveiled Para Bellum Labs — para bellum is Latin for 'prepare for war' — an initiative designed to help the party and its candidates bridge the technology gap