Trump names Ronna Romney McDaniel as RNC chair
WASHINGTON – As widely rumored for a week, President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday gave his nod to Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel taking the reins of the GOP national committee next year.
The Republican National Committee – a 168-member body that coordinates national platforms, fundraising and policies for the party – put out a news release Wednesday afternoon saying it intends to make Romney McDaniel a deputy co-chair prior her to becoming chairman in a vote next year.
“I’m excited to have a highly effective leader in Ronna McDaniel as RNC deputy chair and I look forward to her serving as the party’s chairman in 2017,” Trump said “Ronna has been extremely loyal to our movement and her efforts were critical to our tremendous victory in Michigan.”
Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by less than half-a-percentage point on Nov. 8, becoming the first Republican presidential nominee to win the state since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
After Trump’s victory, Romney McDaniel was also instrumental in leading forces to observe and ultimately block a recount called for by Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
Romney McDaniel was little known in Michigan prior to 2012, when she played a key role in the campaign of her uncle, Mitt Romney, a Michigan native, former Massachusetts governor and that year’s Republican presidential nominee. Becoming the state Republican chairwoman in 2015, Romney McDaniel served as a Trump delegate to this summer’s nominating convention and continued to try to persuade her uncle to support Trump, even though he refused to do so throughout the nominating fight and even after, saying he was unfit to serve.
Mitt Romney and Trump met on at least two occasions after Trump’s historic win Nov. 8, ostensibly to discuss a possible job for Romney as secretary of state – a nomination that ultimately went to Exxon’s Rex Tillerson this week.
Romney McDaniel is the daughter of Mitt Romney’s brother Scott, and granddaughter to the late George Romney, a three-term Michigan governor, auto executive and housing and urban development secretary under President Richard Nixon.
While the full RNC must eventually vote to make Romney McDaniel its chair, such a vote is virtually assured with the president-elect’s backing. Romney McDaniel – who is a member of the RNC – also has the support of current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who is set to become Trump’s chief of staff in the White House.