加州达纳点共和党全国委员会成员周五在达纳点的一家豪华酒店内再次选举罗娜·麦克丹尼尔为主席，结束了一场异常激烈的比赛，这场比赛可能会产生巨大的影响共和党为2024年选举做好准备.
麦克丹尼尔周五表示:“我很荣幸再次当选为RNC主席，我非常感谢我们的成员再次委托我担任这一职务。”“让乔·拜登连任总统的工作已经在进行中:我们党是时候团结起来，重新致力于在选票上上下下选举共和党人了。我期待着与我们党内的保守派领导人，包括哈米特和迈克一起工作，兑现我们对美国人民的承诺。”
需要84票才能赢得167票中的多数票。麦克丹尼尔获得111张，迪隆获得51张，林德尔获得4张。一票投给了前国会议员和纽约州州长候选人李·泽尔丁。
进入第四个任期的麦克丹尼尔在周五的选举中是最受欢迎的，尽管她面临着来自律师Harmeet Dhillon的挑战和来自My Pillow首席执行官Mike Lindell的长期收购。典型的令人昏昏欲睡的事件，今年的主席竞选演变成了一场关于个性和策略的辩论，候选人的代理人对去年的选举活动进行人身攻击。
这种激烈的争论很大程度上是由更广泛的清算引发的共和党在2022年选举中表现不佳麦克丹尼尔坚称中期选举的某些方面超出了她的控制，迪隆则指责她所称的国家党根本缺乏战略和资源分配不当。
麦克丹尼尔仍然得到了168名投票的RNC成员中超过一半的支持——这是她连任所需的门槛——尽管沮丧的成员们表示，无论谁赢得主席职位，赌注都很高。
“我认为罗娜可能会赢，但可能比她预期的差距要小。委员会非常渴望变革。但也有人对哈米特的竞选方式不满，”一名犹豫不决的委员会成员说。“我认为重要的是，无论谁赢了，党都必须团结起来——这从罗娜和哈米特开始。”
“2024年与白宫有太多的利害关系，”这位成员说。“我认为许多美国人认为国家正走在错误的道路上。作为一个政党，我们不能在2024年表现不佳。我们显然在2022年表现不佳，原因有很多。我们不能再这样做了。”
在竞选之前，麦克丹尼尔发布了一封信，吹嘘168名投票的RNC成员中有100多人的支持，给了她缓冲空间，以摆脱对挑战者的支持，并仍然保持强大的基础。
代表前总统唐纳德·特朗普反对众议院1月6日委员会的迪隆也在竞选中起步较晚。
麦克丹尼尔只是在最近几天增加了支持者的数量，宣布了几个州党主席的支持，他们也是RNC的成员。
然而，迪隆发动了全场紧逼，依靠与RNC成员和包括福克斯新闻频道人士在内的外部盟友的两次会议来提高热度，并试图帮助她击败那个令人生畏的数学。
RNC成员预测，她至少成功地从麦克丹尼尔的信中撕下了几个签名。
在一次采访中，迪隆声称亲麦克丹尼尔的信是不准确的，并说她“希望并计划获胜”，尽管她不会说她相信自己在周五之前有多少选票。
“我有一个估计，但我不会公开分享这些信息，因为其中一些人想保持隐私，”她坚持说。“也就是说，有几个人私下承诺支持我们，而我正在拉选票——一天拉几票。”
迪隆说，她对麦克丹尼尔的挑战源于三个主要问题，包括RNC领导层在最大程度上利用邮件和提前投票的“令人费解的失败”——尽管川普和其他一些共和党人告诉选民接受亲自投票。
迪隆还指责国家党在“不产生结果的顾问”身上“浪费”了数百万美元，并且未能促进“为我们的候选人提供清晰简洁的信息和方向”，引用了候选人之间围绕最高法院废除堕胎宪法保护的裁决的矛盾立场。
“我们失败了，”迪隆说。“再说一遍，这些是赢得选举的关键基础。在我们把这些事情做好之前，我不知道捐助者、选民或候选人是否会对共和党有信心，这很糟糕，因为RNC在我们的选举中起着关键作用。”
迪隆还认为，麦克丹尼尔没有采取足够有力的方法向地方和州官员建议哪些候选人在大选中可能是强有力的。
“最终，选民必须选择候选人。迪隆说:“但是，从有人醒来说，‘我可以成为下一任美国参议员’，到我们开始计票，结果还差一点，这中间有许多转折点。我认为其他人都有发言权，民主党人有发言权，特朗普总统有发言权，各种政治行动委员会有发言权，但党没有发言权的想法?我不这么认为。"
卡莉·莱克(Kari Lake)在竞选亚利桑那州州长失败后，前往加利福尼亚州的RNC会议，为迪隆争取支持，她赞同需要不同的领导。
“看到这样优秀的候选人站出来说，‘让我们继续前进吧，罗娜，我很激动。“非常感谢你们的服务，我们需要改变美国，”莱克周三对记者说。
尽管共和党在其他地方令人失望，但佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)在中期选举中再次当选，他周四告诉保守派活动家兼主持人查理·柯克(Charlie Kirk)，他“喜欢哈米特·迪隆(Harmeet Dhillon)关于让RNC离开华盛顿的说法”。
“我认为我们需要改变，我认为我们需要给RNC注入一些新鲜血液，”德桑蒂斯说。
林德尔在接受美国广播公司新闻的电话采访时断言，他和迪隆的联合力量足以至少让简单多数远离麦克丹尼尔——这一预测没有实现。
“我相信Ronna McDaniel远低于所需的85杆，”Lindell说。“有点像国会发生的事情(凯文·麦卡锡旷日持久的议长选举)。这是非常相似的，只是它对我非常有利，因为这是一次秘密投票。”
“如果这是一次公开投票，我认为任何人都很难获胜，因为已经做出了承诺——如果你在其他地方投票，突然之间你就会把胡萝卜拉回来，”他说。
和迪隆一样，林德尔试图表现出对自己有机会战胜麦克丹尼尔的广泛支持的信心。
“记住，这是一次无记名投票——你猜怎么着，没有机器。这不是很好吗?”林德尔笑着说。(这位商人一直在散布关于电子投票机的毫无根据的说法。)
尽管面临挑战，麦克丹尼尔对她的党团的吸引力仍然很强。据在场的几位消息人士透露，周三晚上在达纳点的华尔道夫酒店举行的候选人论坛上，麦克丹尼尔是唯一一位受到RNC成员起立鼓掌的候选人。那天晚上晚些时候，支持者们在华尔道夫酒店的大厅里走来走去，炫耀着他们的竞选徽章——几个成员的翻领和衣服上别着鲜红色的“与罗纳一起竞选RNC主席”。
麦克丹尼尔的发言人在多次请求后没有让她接受采访，她坚持认为，她的批评者高估了RNC主席的权力，她没有权力挑选候选人或对任何被提名人施加信息纪律。
作为罗姆尼家族的一员，麦克丹尼尔掌管RNC六年，与共和党的关系可以追溯到几十年前，她仍然拥有大量的支持者，他们认为她拥有机构知识和捐助者基础，可以推动共和党在明年取得胜利。
一名支持麦克丹尼尔的RNC成员说:“我认为她展示了管理该组织的技能、气质和热情，这将有利于全国各地的政党，希望也有利于我们的总统候选人。”。
将麦克丹尼尔和迪隆团结在一起的一件事是誓言在2024年共和党初选中保持中立——这是RNC章程规定的——尽管他们与川普有联系，而且不同阵营的成员声称他们首选候选人的对手无法充分切断联系。
但是，除了竞选活动的辩论之外，让这场竞选变得特别分裂的是对策略的抨击升级为对人格的攻击和职业威胁。
来自田纳西州的全国委员会成员奥斯卡·布洛克在11月份给RNC的其他人发了一封电子邮件，抨击麦克丹尼尔特朗普与反犹太主义者尼克·富恩特斯和叶共进晚餐他说，他对国家党的回应不够充分感到“震惊”。
与此同时，迪隆的一个盟友公布了其他成员的联系信息，支持迪隆的强硬派活动家柯克向RNC成员发送了一封电子邮件，警告他可以用那些“更好地代表基层声音”的人来取代他们除此之外，塔克·卡尔森和劳拉·英格拉哈姆等福克斯新闻频道主持人提升了迪隆，并批评麦克丹尼尔，显然是为了向将选举主席的168人施加压力。
“这是我第一次意识到我们有更多的外部参与。我认为对于Harmeet来说，我认为这是一个聪明的策略，但我不能说它得到了完美的实施。我认为这帮助了她，也伤害了她，”这位犹豫不决的RNC成员说。这个策略可能很聪明，但我认为她做得太过火了
“像查理·柯克这样的人给RNC成员发电子邮件威胁我们。那不是很有效。这肯定不会让他在RNC会员中很受欢迎，”这位会员说。“我认为这真的伤害了她。”
竞选各方的成员都承认，情况变得很糟糕，尽管他们表示，长期分歧不会比战略更深。
但是从短期来看，即使是迪隆的支持者说她已经运行了一个强大的竞选团队，也说她的机会是模糊的。
“该党没有分裂。支持迪隆的新泽西议员比尔·帕拉图奇(Bill Palatucci)本周早些时候表示:“我们很多人对罗娜管理RNC的方式感到失望，知道我们需要改变。”。
尽管如此，“如果我是一个打赌的人，我会认为现任获胜，”帕拉图奇说。“但是，Harmeet非常积极地开展了一场出色的竞选活动，取得了很大进展，并将继续取得进展。所以，我们真的不知道，直到我们出去。”
Ronna McDaniel reelected RNC chair after contentious 3-way contest over party's future
DANA POINT, Calif. -- Republican National Committee members reelected Ronna McDaniel as chair inside a ritzy hotel in Dana Point on Friday, closing out an unusually contentious race that could have outsized implications as the GOP gears up for the 2024 elections.
"It is an honor to be re-elected as Chairwoman of the RNC, and I am deeply grateful that our members have entrusted me with another term in this role," McDaniel said Friday. "The work to make Joe Biden a one-term president is already underway: it is time for our party to unite and re-dedicate ourselves to electing Republicans up and down the ballot. I look forward to working alongside conservative leaders, including Harmeet and Mike, from across our party to deliver on our promises to the American people."
Eighty-four votes were needed to win a majority of the 167 votes cast in the contest. McDaniel received 111, while Dhillon received 51 and Lindell got four. One vote was cast for former congressman and New York governor nominee Lee Zeldin.
McDaniel, entering a fourth term, was the favorite in Friday's election, though she faced a challenge from attorney Harmeet Dhillon and a long-shot bid from My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. Typically a sleepy affair, the chair's race this year morphed into a debate over personality and strategy, with surrogates for the candidates lobbing personal attacks over last year's election operations.
The acrimony has largely been fueled by a broader reckoning over Republicans' underperformance in the 2022 elections, with McDaniel insisting certain aspects of the midterms were out of her control and Dhillon panning what she claims was a fundamental lack of strategy and misallocation of resources on the part of the national party.
McDaniel still retained support from well over half of the 168 voting RNC members -- the threshold she needs to clinch reelection -- though frustrated members said the stakes would be high for whomever won the chair.
"I think Ronna is likely to win but probably by a smaller margin than she may expect. There is pretty profound desire for change from the committee. But there's also dissatisfaction with the way Harmeet has run her campaign," said one undecided committee member. "And I think the important thing is, whoever wins, the party has got to come together -- and that starts with Ronna and Harmeet."
"2024 just has so much at stake with the White House in play," this member said. "I think many Americans think the country is on the wrong track. As a party, we just can't afford to underperform in '24. We clearly underperformed in '22, and there are a lot of reasons for that. We can't do it again."
Ahead of the race, McDaniel released a letter boasting endorsements from more than 100 of the 168 voting RNC members, handing her buffer room to shed support to a challenger and still be on strong footing.
Dhillon, who has represented former President Donald Trump against the House Jan. 6 committee, also got a late start in the race.
McDaniel only added to the number of supporters in recent days, announcing endorsements from a small handful of state party chairs who are also RNC members.
Dhillon, however, had waged a full court press, leaning on both meetings with RNC members and outside allies including Fox News personalities to raise the heat and try to help her beat that daunting math.
RNC members predicted that she succeeded in peeling off at least a few signees from McDaniel's letter.
In an interview, Dhillon claimed the pro-McDaniel letter is inaccurate and said she's "hoping and planning to win," though she wouldn't say how many votes she believes she has behind her heading into Friday.
"I have an estimate, but I'm not sharing that information publicly because some of those people want to stay private," she insisted. "That said, several people are privately committed to us, and I'm picking up votes -- several a day."
Dhillon said her challenge to McDaniel is fueled by three main concerns, including "an inexplicable failure" by RNC leadership to take advantage of mail-in and early voting to the full extent that it's allowed -- even as Trump and some other Republicans tell voters to embrace in-person ballots.
Dhillon also accused the national party of "wasting" millions of dollars on "consultants who don't produce results" and failing to promote "clear and concise messaging and direction for our candidates," citing conflicting stances among candidates around the Supreme Court's ruling scrapping constitutional protections for abortion.
"We failed," Dhillon said. "And again, these are sort of critical, basic building blocks of winning elections. And until we get these things right, I don't know that donors, voters or candidates are going to have confidence in the party, and that's terrible because the RNC plays a critical role in our elections."
Dhillon also argued that McDaniel didn't take a muscular enough approach in advising local and state officials on which candidates could be potent in general elections.
"Ultimately, voters have to select who the candidate is. But there are many inflection points along the way between the time somebody wakes up and says, 'I can be the next United States senator,' versus the day we are counting the ballots and coming up short,'" Dhillon said. "I think the idea that everybody else gets a say, Democrats get a say, President Trump gets a say, various PACs get to say, but the party doesn't get a say? I don't think so."
Kari Lake, who traveled to the RNC meeting in California to drum up support for Dhillon after her failed Arizona gubernatorial bid, echoed the need for different leadership.
"I am so excited to see such quality candidates stepping forward to say, 'Let's move on, Ronna. Thank you very much for your service, we need a change in America,'" Lake told reporters Wednesday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cruised to reelection in the midterms despite GOP disappointments elsewhere, told conservative activist and host Charlie Kirk on Thursday that he "like[s] what Harmeet Dhillon has said about getting the RNC outside" of Washington.
"I think we need a change, and I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC," DeSantis said.
Lindell asserted in a phone interview with ABC News that he and Dhillon have enough combined power to at least keep the simple majority away from McDaniel -- a prediction that did not come to fruition.
"I believe Ronna McDaniel is well under the 85 needed," Lindell said. "Kind of like what happened in Congress [with Kevin McCarthy's protracted speakership election]. This is very similar, only it's very much to my advantage because it's a secret vote."
"If it was an open vote, I think it'd be hard for anybody to win because of the promises that are made -- and all of the sudden you're going to get that carrot pulled back if you vote elsewhere," he said.
Lindell, like Dhillon, sought to project confidence about his chances to overcome McDaniel's broad support.
"Remember, it's a secret ballot -- and guess what, no machines. Isn't that great?" Lindell said, laughing. (The businessman has continued to spread baseless claims about electronic voting machines.)
Despite the challenges, McDaniel's pull on her caucus remains strong. During a candidate forum on Wednesday night at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, McDaniel was the only candidate to receive a standing ovation from RNC members, according to several sources who were present in the room. Supporters milled about the lobby of the Waldorf later that evening, sporting campaign buttons -- a bright red "Roll With RONNA for RNC chair" fastened to several members' lapels and dresses.
McDaniel, whose spokesperson did not make her available for an interview after multiple requests, has insisted that her critics are overestimating the power of the RNC chair and that she does not have the power to pick candidates or impose messaging discipline on any nominee.
And with six years of running the RNC under her belt, McDaniel, a member of the Romney family's whose GOP ties stretch back decades, still boasts a hefty roster of supporters who maintain that she has the institutional knowledge and donor base to propel the GOP to victory next year.
"I think she's demonstrated the skills and the temperament and the passion to run the organization in a way that's gonna benefit parties around the country and, hopefully, our presidential candidate, too," said an RNC member supporting McDaniel.
One thing uniting McDaniel and Dhillon are vows to remain neutral in the 2024 GOP primary -- as mandated by RNC bylaws -- despite both of their links to Trump and claims from members of different camps that their preferred candidate's opponent would not be able to sufficiently cut ties.
But beyond debates over campaign operations, what has made the race particularly divisive is the sharpening of swipes over strategy into attacks on character and professional threats.
Oscar Brock, a national committee member from Tennessee, sent an email in November to others in the RNC blasting McDaniel after Trump dined with antisemites Nick Fuentes and Ye, saying he was "flabbergasted" by what he suggested was an insufficient response by the national party.
One Dhillon ally, meanwhile, released other members' contact information and Kirk, a hardline activist supporting Dhillon, sent out an email to RNC members warning he could replace them with those who "better represent the grassroots voice." On top of that, Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have promoted Dhillon and criticized McDaniel in an apparent bid to apply pressure to the 168 who will elect the chair.
"This was the first time that I'm aware of where we've had a lot more outside involvement. I think for Harmeet, I think that was a smart strategy, but I wouldn't say it was perfectly implemented. And I think it's helped her and hurt her," the undecided RNC member said. "The strategy is probably a smart one, but I think she overplayed her hand"
"We had people like Charlie Kirk sending emails to RNC members threatening us. That's not very effective. Certainly doesn't make him very popular with RNC members," the member said. "And I think that really hurt her."
Members on all sides of the race concede got ugly, though they say the long-term divisions run no deeper than strategy.
But in the short-term, even Dhillon supporters who say she's run a strong campaign also said her chances were murky.
"The party isn't fractured. A lot of us are simply disappointed with Ronna's stewardship of the RNC and know we need a change," Bill Palatucci, a member from New Jersey who endorsed Dhillon, said earlier this week.
Still, "If I was a betting man, I would think the incumbent wins," Palatucci said. "But Harmeet has run an excellent campaign very aggressively and has made a lot of progress and continues to make progress. So, we really won't know until we get out there."
