The Republican
National Committee (RNC) is a U.S.
political committee that is a major part
of the Republican Party of the United
States. It is responsible for developing
and promoting the Republican National
Committee brand and
political platform, as well as assisting
in fundraising and election strategy.
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."
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. Ronna McDaniel is
the current Republican National
Committee chairwoman.
The Republican National Committee's main counterpart 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.
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 Republican
National Committee 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.
Michael Steele ran for
re-election at the 2011 RNC winter
meeting. 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. 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.
In
February 2014, during the chairmanship
of Reince Priebus, the RNC launched an
in-house technology incubator called
Para Bellum Labs. This new unit of the
Republican National Committee 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."
In 2013,
the Republican National Committee 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.
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 Republican
National Committee 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. Two days after Trump
was considered by many to have incited a
pro-Trump mob to storm the U.S. Capitol,
the RNC held an event where members
expressed loyalty to the President.
In February 2022,
the RNC censured two Republican
representatives, Liz Cheney and Adam
Kinzinger, 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." 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.
Role
This section needs
expansion with: objectives, operations,
role in primary elections, role in
selecting presidential and congressional
candidates, role in election campaigns,
role in fundraising. You can help by
adding to it. (January 2021)
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 helps coordinate fundraising and
election strategy.
It is also
responsible for organizing and running
the Republican National Convention.
Organization
This section needs expansion with:
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)
The current chair of the Republican
National Committee is Ronna McDaniel,
serving since 2017. McDaniel was
previously chair of the Michigan
Republican Party from 2015 to 2017.
In January 2019, Thomas O. Hicks Jr.
was elected co-chairman of the RNC.
Hicks has a strong connection to
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.
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.
Other
National Leaders
Treasurer: Kristin
"KC" Crosbie, also on the RNC Executive
Committee and Rules Committee
Secretary: Vicki Drummond
General
Counsel: Michael Whatley
Senate
Republican Leader: Mitch McConnell
Senate Republican Whip: John Thune
Senate Republican Conference Chair: John
Barrasso
Senate Republican Conference
Vice Chairwoman: Joni Ernst
National
Republican Senatorial Committee Chair:
Steve Daines
House Republican Leader:
Kevin McCarthy
House Republican Whip:
Steve Scalise
House Republican
Conference Chairwoman: Elise Stefanik
House Republican Policy Committee
Chairman: Gary Palmer
Chairs
of the Republican National Committee
2009 election
On November 24,
2008, Steele launched his campaign for
the Republican National Committee
chairmanship with the launching of his
website.[20] On January 30, 2009, Steele
won the chairmanship of the Republican
National Committee in the sixth round,
with 91 votes to Dawson's 77.
On
announcing his candidacy to succeed
Republican National Committee 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.
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. 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. After the fifth
round, Steele held a ten-vote lead over Katon Dawson, with 79 votes, and Saul
Anuzis dropped out. After the sixth
vote, he won the chairmanship of the RNC
over Dawson by a vote of 91 to 77.
Mississippi Governor and former
Republican National Committee 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.
2011 election
Chairman of the
Republican National Committee Reince
Priebus at the Western Republican
Leadership Conference in October 2011 in
Las Vegas
Michael Steele ran for
re-election at the 2011 Republican
National Committee winter meeting. 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 Republican
National Committee 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. 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.
Priebus won re-election with
near unanimity in the party's 2013
meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. He
was re-elected to a third term in 2015,
setting him up to become the longest
serving head of the party ever.
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.
Trump then recommended Ronna Romney
McDaniel as Republican National
Committee Chairwoman and she was elected
to that role by the RNC in January 2017.
McDaniel was re-elected in 2019 and
2021. 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.
McDaniel was re-elected in to a fourth
term in January 2023, easily defeating Lindell and California RNC
committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon.
Current Republican National Committee
members
In February 2014,
during the chairmanship of Reince
Priebus, the Republican National
Committee launched an in-house
technology incubator called Para Bellum
Labs. 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."
Federal
"pay-to-play" investigation
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. 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 Republican National
Committee, McDaniel and RNC
co-chair Tommy Hicks, "and possibly
members of Congress". The Union-Tribune
reported the investigation began in
2020.
The Republican
National Committee (RNC) is a U.S.
political committee that provides
national leadership for the Republican
Party of the United States. It is
responsible for developing and promoting
the Republican political platform, as
well as coordinating fundraising and
election strategy. It is also
responsible for organizing and running
the Republican National Convention.
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. Reince
Priebus is the current RNC Chairman.
The RNC's main counterpart 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
convention 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.
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. 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. After the
fifth round, Steele held a ten-vote lead
over Katon Dawson, with 79 votes, and
Saul Anuzis dropped out. After the sixth
vote, he won the chairmanship of the RNC
over Dawson by a vote of 91 to 77.
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.
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