The Republican National Committee has had a rough few cycles since winning the presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate in 2016.
In 2018, the party lost control of the House of Representatives, losing 41 seats. In 2020, it lost the presidency and control of the Senate. And in 2022, despite an unpopular president, it only managed to win a razor-thin majority in the House while failing to flip control of the Senate despite several prime pick-up opportunities.
Despite these failures, the party’s apparatus, led by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, has avoided accountability, even as the party has seen its coffers nearly empty as fundraising has all but dried up. But as former President Donald Trump closes in on a third straight GOP presidential nomination, it looks like some welcome changes could be on the horizon.
McDaniel, it seems, is poised to step down from her position at the end of the month, following the South Carolina primary, in which Trump is expected to deliver a humiliating defeat to his last remaining rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
On Monday, Trump announced he is endorsing North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley to lead the RNC, with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump serving as co-chairwoman and Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita as RNC chief operations officer.
While the selections of Lara Trump and LaCivita to fill key roles in the RNC may elicit eye rolls from some, Trump’s choice of Whatley to lead the party is an indication the former president understands the important role the party will need to play in ensuring he is able to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election and return to the White House.
Indeed, since Whatley took over as chairman of the North Carolina GOP in 2019, the Republican Party has had a steady track record of success in one of the purplest states in the nation.
In 2020, Whatley helped deliver the Tar Heel State to Trump’s column while Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) secured a second term, even as popular incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) won reelection.
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In the years since, Republicans in North Carolina, under Whatley’s watch, have secured a supermajority in the state legislature, thereby significantly reducing Cooper’s power, easily kept control of a U.S. Senate seat in 2022 that was considered to be vulnerable, and flipped a seat on the state Supreme Court, allowing the Republican-controlled state legislature to redraw congressional districts to make them more favorable to the GOP.
It’s a resume for a purple state GOP that is the envy of pretty much every competitive state except Florida. If Whatley is chosen to lead the Republican Party at the national level, his winning record in North Carolina is a boost of confidence that the party will be an effective instrument to elect conservative candidates up and down the ballot when voters head to the polls in November.