Source: Politics<\/p>\n
An early showdown destined to shape the 2024 election cycle is happening this week inside a luxury waterfront hotel in Orange County, Calif., where weeks of shadow-boxing between incumbent Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel and her foremost challenger, conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, will transition into a high-stakes political brawl.<\/p>\n
McDaniel is seeking a fourth two-year term, counseling stability atop the RNC ahead of the coming presidential election, while Dhillon is waging an insurgent campaign to unseat her, arguing that change is needed following the GOP\u2019s abysmal midterm performance.<\/p>\n
The sparring has grown intense, with the two camps trading accusations of mismanagement, intimidation, and other misdeeds. And in interviews with POLITICO this week, neither candidate showed any sign of easing up ahead of this week\u2019s RNC winter meeting in Dana Point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just can\u2019t afford to take our foot off the gas,\u201d McDaniel said, projecting confidence she would prevail over Dhillon.<\/p>\n
Dhillon, meanwhile, asserted that with stronger leadership, Republicans \u201cmight have won bigger in the 2022 election, and we would be ready to win in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s election among the 168 RNC members will follow two days of meet-and-greets, debates and glad-handing among the other typical party business. Measured by public statements of support, McDaniel would appear safe: She has more than 100 members publicly backing her, while Dhillon has fewer than 30<\/a>. (MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is also running, but few RNC members take him seriously.)<\/p>\n But the bitter tenor of the fight, the enormous stakes for the GOP going into the 2024 elections and the uncertainty of a secret-ballot election have elevated the contest into a political battle royale.<\/p>\n Dhillon on Monday emailed her latest pitch<\/a> to RNC members \u2014 pledging to make changes that include moving her family from California to Washington (McDaniel commutes from Michigan), banning \u201cextremely loud entertainment\u201d at committee events, and maintaining a \u201cculture of collegiality and cooperation\u201d inside the party.<\/p>\n In the subsequent interview, Dhillon went chapter-and-verse on the failings she sees under McDaniel: The RNC has overspent on consultants and \u201cfrivolous expenditures that don’t win elections.\u201d It has fallen behind Democrats in encouraging voting before Election Day and making sure as many of its voters\u2019 ballots are counted as possible. And, she argued, the party \u201cwhiffed\u201d in shaping the GOP\u2019s midterm message \u2014 arguing that the RNC has to lead, not follow, when the party is out of power.<\/p>\n McDaniel rejected the accusations that the RNC fumbled the midterms, arguing that her efforts to build the party infrastructure \u201cmade it a better election than it would have otherwise been\u201d and that Dhillon and her other critics simply \u201cdon\u2019t understand what the RNC\u2019s job actually is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe infrastructure we built made it so a Republican could get to the finish line,\u201d she said, noting that more than 4 million more GOP voters turned out nationwide than Democrats. \u201cBut the difference between why one Republican did and didn\u2019t is down to the campaign, the candidate and messaging, which the RNC does not have control over.\u201d<\/p>\n Dhillon said losing Republican candidates such as Arizona\u2019s Kari Lake, Pennsylvania\u2019s Mehmet Oz and Georgia\u2019s Herschel Walker were no more flawed than the Democrats who beat them. Republicans just have to get as \u201cefficient\u201d as Democrats, she said, at turning out their voters and making sure their ballots are counted.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn Fetterman could not even speak and articulate for himself during much of his campaign, and he got elected,\u201d she said, referring to the new Pennsylvania senator, who suffered a stroke mid-campaign. \u201cSo I disagree with that explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanging over the contest is the shadow of former president Donald Trump, who has ties to both candidates but has not made an endorsement in the race.<\/p>\n Dhillon and McDaniel have this in common: Neither was eager to finger Trump for the GOP\u2019s recent electoral failings \u2014 including his role in actively discouraging Republican voters from casting mail ballots or elevating several of the cycle\u2019s most disappointing candidates.<\/p>\n But Dhillon is seeking to walk a fine line as she maintains a coalition of MAGA die-hards and Never Trumpers who share an interest in ousting McDaniel. It\u2019s meant assuming some new and nuanced positions for an attorney who, after the 2020 election, cheered Rudy Giuliani\u2019s suggestion<\/a> that he found cause to overturn Pennsylvania\u2019s results, solicited donations<\/a> for Trump\u2019s election defense fund on Twitter, and wrote an op-ed on Townhall.com<\/a> entitled \u201cRepublican lawyers are fighting to stop the steal.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those backing Dhillon are such Trump diehards as activist Charlie Kirk, Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and Stop the Steal organizer Caroline Wren.<\/p>\n Yet in the interview, Dhillon rejected Trump\u2019s claims of a stolen 2020 election and confirmed Joe Biden as the rightful winner. She noted that she did not personally file or litigate any of the lawsuits filed by Trump allies seeking to challenge the election.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time to ensure the integrity of an election is before the election,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd if you haven’t prepared for that, don’t start scrambling and hiring lawyers after the fact. It’s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n McDaniel, meanwhile, faces blowback from Trump skeptics who argue she doesn\u2019t push back on Trump enough. In an email to RNC members first reported by the Washington Post,<\/a> Tennessee committeeman Oscar Brock wrote that \u201cthe reality is that every time Donald Trump says jump, Ronna asks, \u2018How high?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n McDaniel has responded by pledging repeatedly to keep the 2024 primary process neutral and promising to bridge divisions inside the party. \u201cI\u2019m running a unity campaign, and part of that is, as party chair, not attacking other Republicans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But Dhillon said some Republicans have told her they are already skeptical of McDaniel\u2019s assurances, given that she tapped Trump loyalist David Bossie to run the 2024 GOP debates. McDaniel\u2019s backers, meanwhile, have privately raised doubts about what the RNC would look like under Dhillon, who has suggested she will hire MAGA hardliners<\/a> to run the organization.<\/p>\n The whisper campaigns have been relentless, and they have been accompanied by an effort to whip up a grassroots uprising on Dhillon\u2019s behalf \u2014 prompting McDaniel to denounce some of the scorched-earth tactics.<\/p>\n One Dhillon ally published RNC members\u2019 contact information<\/a>, encouraging GOP voters to hound them to oppose McDaniel, while Kirk, a MAGA activist with a massive following, threatened in an email<\/a> to RNC members last month to replace them with activists who \u201cbetter represent the grassroots voice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s intentionally inflaming passions based on things that aren\u2019t true,\u201d McDaniel said, warning that the nastiness bodes ill for 2024, \u201cwith Republicans attacking other Republicans to the point that we can\u2019t come together after.\u201d<\/p>\n Dhillon rejected McDaniel\u2019s suggestion that her longshot campaign is unnecessarily dividing the party ahead of a critical presidential election. \u201cThis is not personal,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to point out the reasons for change. I try to do that as persuasively and civilly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n While the arithmetic appears formidable for Dhillon, she insisted still has an \u201cexcellent chance\u201d of pulling off an upset. While POLITICO has previously reported that party insiders believe she has about 60 votes, Dhillon herself would not talk numbers.<\/p>\n She did, however, offer an explanation for why so few members have publicly endorsed her. Some committed to McDaniel before she entered the race and \u201cdon’t want to offend her,\u201d she said, while others are running for leadership posts of their own and don’t want to alienate the incumbent and her supporters. And some, she suggested, fear their state party\u2019s finances could be affected if they cross the sitting chair.<\/p>\n In a late bid to lower the race\u2019s temperature, Dhillon vowed if elected to work with Republicans she has clashed with \u2014 including elected officials, such as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, whom she has attacked at times, and even McDaniel herself.<\/p>\n \u201cShe’s an important leader in the party,\u201d Dhillon said, inviting McDaniel to stay on in a leadership role. \u201cShe has a lot of skills and I’m sure she has things that could teach me.\u201d<\/p>\n