RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel beats back challengers to win 4th term

(Image credit: Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

published 27 January 2023

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel successfully beat back one of the most serious threats to her leadership to date after decisively winning a fourth term atop the GOP at the party's winter meeting on Friday. Her victory ends months of speculation over her future given last November's lackluster showing for Republican candidates, for which a number of party members blamed McDaniel.

McDaniel won Friday's vote earning 111 ballots of the 167 total cast. Her nearest challenger, RNC member and California attorney Harmeet Dhillon, received 51 votes, bolstered in part by a last-minute endorsement from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), seen by many as a potential challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Businessman and election conspiracist Mike Lindell earned just four votes, while former New York Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who was not an official candidate in the race, got a single vote.

In a statement released shortly after her victory, McDaniel subtly acknowledged the frustrations from within her party over last year's defeats, writing that "the work to make Joe Biden a one-term president is already underway." She added that she "look[s] forward to working alongside conservative leaders, including Harmeet and Mike, from across our party to deliver on our promises to the American people."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.

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