It is a new day for the Republican Party. Longtime Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is out, and new party boss Michael Whatley is in.
After a mixed record through her seven years in office, McDaniel resigned from her position atop the Republican Party this week, allowing for Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina GOP, to take over with the support of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
In addition to Whatley’s selection as chairman, the RNC members elected Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chairwoman. Chris LaCivita, a senior member of the former president’s campaign, will also be taking a role within the party as COO.
With new leadership comes new opportunities and a new to-do list. And as the party looks to secure control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate in November, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. So, with that in mind, here are three things Whatley and the new party leadership need to do to secure victory up and down the ballot in November.
Staffing
The first thing that needs to happen is an overhaul of who works for the RNC. All employees should be ideologically vetted to ensure they will not undermine the party through harmful leaks and halfhearted work for candidates they do not like. Each employee should face a full performance review to guarantee he or she is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that Republican candidates are elected to office before their personal career prospects.
Fundraising
Once this housecleaning is complete, the biggest emergency that must be addressed is the RNC’s lackluster fundraising, which threatens the party’s ability to compete in and win elections. According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, the RNC has a meager $8 million in cash on hand, the lowest it has had since 2013, a year after the 2012 presidential election. If the party is going to have any shot at winning the White House, flipping control of the Senate, and holding the House of Representatives, it must find a way to fix its fundraising problems, and fast.
Identify new donors, reengage old donors, and encourage the grassroots to donate to the party. It won’t be easy, but any success in November will be dependent on the new leadership’s ability to solve the party’s financial woes.
Get out the vote
The final change Whatley and the new leaders of the RNC must do, once they solve their staffing and financial problems, is mobilize the largest get-out-the-vote operation in history.
Prior to 2016, the Republican Party tended to benefit in low-turnout elections. This was due to the fact that Republican voters tended to be more educated and better off financially, a combination that lends itself to higher political engagement.
Since Trump came onto the scene and won the 2016 presidential election, the party’s voter base has been remade into one that is dominated by working-class voters without college degrees. And this is a demographic far less politically engaged than the party’s old voter base. This is why Democrats have tended to do well in off-year and special elections since Trump won the presidency eight years ago.
To mobilize low-propensity voters, Whatley and the RNC need to change how the party thinks about voter mobilization. The Democrats turned Election Day into election season, so the GOP must adapt and use this longer runway to identify low-propensity voters and get them to submit a ballot in person or by mail and not necessarily on Election Day. They must also push for voter registration among communities and demographics that are not politically engaged but are sympathetic to conservative causes.
Instead of knocking on doors asking people to go vote on Election Day, volunteers and campaign staff must push voters to provide a rock-solid guarantee they will vote in person on Election Day or submit their ballots early. They should also identify voters with a spotty track record of voting and especially encourage them to cast a ballot.
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Finally, given the swings among minority voters away from Democrats and toward Republicans, the RNC and its state parties need to rewrite the playbook for community engagement and mobilize these demographics in their favor by hosting events in their communities that encourage voter participation and provide visibility for a party that has been electorally toxic to these communities for generations. A failure to do so would represent a missed opportunity that could make the difference between electoral victory and defeat.
Whatley, Lara Trump, and the new leadership of the RNC have a daunting task ahead of them. But if the party is serious about winning in November, it must change course and fast. Otherwise, the Democrats will overperform in yet another cycle, and the GOP will be left wondering why they let another winnable election slip away.