Republicans reelect Trump-backed McDaniel as party chairperson

By Tim Reid

DANA POINT, Calif., Jan 27 (Reuters) – The Republican
National Committee reelected Ronna McDaniel to a fourth term as
chairwoman, giving a mandate that would keep the Donald
Trump-backed candidate in the top party post through the 2024
U.S. presidential elections.

McDaniel beat challenger Harmeet Dhillon by 111 votes to 51
for another two-year term at an RNC members meeting in Dana
Point, California, according to a party official.

Dhillon’s supporters expressed unhappiness with the party
leadership, saying recent disappointing election results by
Republicans meant there needed to be change in the way the RNC
is led.

During her first three terms as Republican party chair,
McDaniel has overseen Trump’s 2020 presidential election defeat
as well as a weaker-than-expected performance in the mid-term
elections last November.

“It is critical for our chances in 2024 that those who
supported my campaign rally around our party and its
candidates,” Dhillon, a California lawyer who has represented
Trump in election-related litigation, said in a statement.

Dhillon supporters who spoke to Reuters did not say
their vote to oust McDaniel was an anti-Trump vote, but rather
that it reflected grassroots unhappiness with the party
structure.

Trump endorsed McDaniel for RNC chair in 2017 after she
helped deliver her home state of Michigan in the 2016
presidential election in which he defeated Democrat Hillary
Clinton. The former president announced in November he will make
another run for the White House in 2024.

Trump had endorsed dozens of high-profile Republicans in
midterm elections, but he ended with a mixed record in the most
competitive contests.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Ismail Shakil;
Editing by Caitlin Webber and Alistair Bell)