Ronna McDaniel, the former RNC chair and departed NBC analyst, may be signaling a shift in corporate media

A major shakeup occurred within the Republican National Committee, as Ronna McDaniel, the committee's chairperson since 2017, stepped down at the beginning of March. Less than a month later, McDaniel found a new, unexpected home, when NBC News announced they were hiring her as an on-air contributor. 

The hiring raised eyebrows across the media spectrum, as McDaniel seemed to be an unconventional pick for the largely liberal network. The former RNC chair has often criticized the press and was a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump during her time with the Republican committee. She also echoed disproven claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election and led the RNC's attempts to overturn Joe Biden's victory. 

But it was all over as quickly as it began. In the wake of widespread backlash from both outside and inside NBC, the network announced that it had dropped McDaniel as a contributor. But questions remain about whether her quick stint at the network signaled a potentially larger shift in media. How did McDaniel get her start in politics, and what comes next for NBC's now-ousted contributor?

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McDaniel's beginnings and political rise

Ronna McDaniel was born in Austin, Texas, in 1973. She is a member of the Romney political dynasty; her grandfather George Romney served as the governor of Michigan, and her uncle Mitt Romney is a senator from Utah who was the GOP's nominee for president in 2012. Throughout most of her life, she went by Ronna Romney McDaniel, but stopped using Romney in 2017. According to The Washington Post, this came directly at the request of Trump, who was at odds with Mitt Romney over the latter's criticism.

McDaniel began her foray into politics by working for her uncle's presidential campaign. She worked her way up the ladder in Michigan's Republican Party, becoming a GOP delegate during the 2016 election. She was elected chair of the RNC in 2017. 

McDaniel's tenure at the RNC was often besieged by turmoil within the Republican Party; she was easily reelected as RNC chair multiple times in an "unprecedented vote of confidence for a leader who has thus far failed to preside over a single positive election cycle," Axios said. Her time at the RNC was also marked by her association with Trump, whom she was "unfailingly loyal to," said The New York Times. 

Despite this, Trump often expressed dissatisfaction with McDaniel's performance due to the party's electoral losses. After he became 2024's presumptive Republican nominee, McDaniel announced she would resign as chair of the RNC. Her resignation became effective March 8.  

McDaniel's NBC hiring — and firing

Following her ouster from the RNC, NBC announced last week that it was hiring McDaniel as a contributor, in a move that "angered the network's contributors, staff and audience — and with seemingly no upside," The Atlantic said. The anger began to come from within NBC's halls, as "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker participated in a contentious interview with McDaniel after her hiring. 

Journalists at NBC were "uncomfortable with [McDaniel's hiring] because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination," NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd said. Others expressed similar concerns, as MSNBC's "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski said the network shouldn't hire a "person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier." 

Amid continuing pressure from NBC's major bigwigs, rumors swirled that the network was considering letting go of McDaniel, just days after her hiring was revealed. This was confirmed Tuesday, when it was announced that McDaniel had been dropped by NBC as an on-air contributor. A newsroom can't succeed "unless it is cohesive and aligned," Cesar Conde, the chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, said in a memo. "Over the last few days, it has become clear that [McDaniel's] appointment undermines that goal."

While it remains to be seen if the McDaniel saga continues to move the needle further to the right on cable television, her dismissal is a "reminder of how election denialism remains a divisive and burdensome topic for the GOP as it fights to win the White House," The Wall Street Journal said. It remains an indication that if "you are a messenger of election denialism that you may not maintain the credibility to be given a voice in many places in the public square," Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant, said to the Journal.