Republican National Committee


The Republican National Committee is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It does not have direct authority over elected officials. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention. When a Republican is president, the White House controls the committee. According to Boris Heersink, "political scientists have traditionally described the parties' national committees as inconsequential but impartial service providers."
Similar committees exist in every U.S. state and most U.S. counties, although in some states party organization is structured by congressional district, allied campaign organizations being governed by a national committee. Joe Gruters is the current committee chairman.
The Democratic Party's counterpart to the RNC is the Democratic National Committee.

History

The 1856 Republican National Convention appointed the first RNC. It consisted of one member from each state and territory to serve for four years. Each national committee since then has followed the precedent of equal representation for each state or territory, regardless of population. From 1924 to 1952, there was a national committeeman and national committeewoman from each state and U.S. possession, and from Washington, D.C. In 1952, committee membership was expanded to include the state party chairs of states that voted Republican in the preceding presidential election, have a Republican majority in their congressional delegation, or have Republican governors. By 1968, membership reached 145. As of 2011, the RNC has 168 members.
While a number of the chairs of the RNC have been state governors, the only person to have chaired the RNC and later become U.S. president is George H. W. Bush. During Bush's time as RNC chair, Spiro Agnew was being investigated for corruption, which would later lead to Agnew's resignation as vice president. Bush assisted, at the request of Nixon and Agnew, in getting John Glenn Beall Jr., the U.S. senator from Maryland, to pressure his brother, George Beall the U.S. attorney in Maryland, to shut down the investigation into Agnew. Attorney Beall ignored the pressure.
In 2013, the RNC began an outreach campaign towards the American youth and minority voters, after studies showed these groups generally perceived that the Republican Party did not care about their concerns.
During the presidency of Donald Trump, the RNC showed staunch loyalty to President Trump, even at times when prominent Republicans did not. Under Ronna McDaniel's leadership, the RNC ran ads for Trump's 2020 campaign as early as 2018, put numerous Trump campaign workers and affiliates on the RNC payroll, spent considerable funds at Trump-owned properties, covered his legal fees in the Russian interference investigation, hosted Trump's Fake News Awards, and criticized Trump critics within the Republican Party. Two days after the January 6th riot at the Capitol following the controversial 2020 presidential election results, the RNC held an event where members expressed loyalty to the President.
In February 2022, the RNC censured two Republican representatives, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, for their participation in the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol; the censure statement described the committee as a "Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse." The censure of sitting congressmembers, and particularly the description of the January 6 events as "legitimate political discourse", received bipartisan criticism from politicians and media.
In May 2024, The Associated Press reported that under Lara Trump, the RNC had "sought alliances with election deniers, conspiracy theorists and alt-right advocates the party had previously kept at arm's length." It also noted the prevalence of election deniers had increased among top Republican officeholders and RNC officials as part of a larger election denial movement in the United States.

Role

The Republican National Committee's main function is to assist the Republican Party of the United States. It helps to promote the Republican political platform and the "party brand" or image. It is more focused on campaign and organizational strategy than public policy.
It helps coordinate fundraising and election strategy, as well as organizing and running the Republican National Convention.
According to Jim Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee:
“The party can’t coordinate with these Super PACs and neither can the campaigns so there’s a lot more chaos... .And the party structure clearly has a diminished role because they don’t have the resources they used to have.”

Organization

the Republican National Committee has been chaired by Michael Whatley and co-chaired by KC Crosbie.
The previous chair of the Republican National Committee was Ronna McDaniel, serving from 2017 to 2024. McDaniel was chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017.
In January 2019, Thomas O. Hicks Jr. was elected co-chairman of the RNC. Hicks has a strong connection to former president Trump's campaigns and policy initiatives, having served as chairman of the America First Action PAC and America First Policies, and as national finance co-chairman for Donald J. Trump for President.
Similar committees to the RNC exist in each U.S. state and most U.S. counties. The RNC also organizes volunteer groups for specific interests, such as the Black Republican Activists, GOP Hispanics, RNC Women, GOP Faith, Asian Pacific Americans, Young Leaders, and Veterans & Military Families.

Chairs of the Republican National Committee

Elections

1993 election

1997 election

  • Merrill and Norcross both dropped out after the fifth round, giving the chairmanship to Nicholson by acclamation.

    2009 election

On November 24, 2008, Steele launched his campaign for the RNC chairmanship with the launching of his website. On January 30, 2009, Steele won the chairmanship of the RNC in the sixth round, with 91 votes to Dawson's 77.
Source: CQPolitics, and Poll Pundit.
CandidateRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6
Michael Steele464851607991
Katon Dawson282934626977
Saul Anuzis2224243120Withdrew
Ken Blackwell20191515Withdrew-
Mike Duncan524844Withdrew

On announcing his candidacy to succeed RNC Chairman Duncan, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele described the party as being at a crossroads and not knowing what to do. "I think I may have some keys to open the door, some juice to turn on the lights," he said.
Six people ran for the 2009 RNC chairmanship: Steele, Ken Blackwell, Mike Duncan, Saul Anuzis, Katon Dawson and Chip Saltsman. After Saltsman's withdrawal, there were only five candidates during the hotly contested balloting January 30, 2009.
After the third round of balloting that day, Steele held a small lead over incumbent Mike Duncan of Kentucky, with 51 votes to Duncan's 44. Shortly after the announcement of the standings, Duncan dropped out of contention without endorsing a candidate. Ken Blackwell, the only other African-American candidate, dropped out after the fourth ballot and endorsed Steele, though Blackwell had been the most socially conservative of the candidates and Steele had been accused of not being "sufficiently conservative." Steele picked up Blackwell's votes. After the fifth round, Steele held a ten-vote lead over Katon Dawson, with 79 votes, and Saul Anuzis dropped out. After the sixth vote, he won the chairmanship of the RNC over Dawson by a vote of 91 to 77.
Mississippi governor and former RNC chair Haley Barbour has suggested the party will focus its efforts on congressional and gubernatorial elections in the coming years rather than the next presidential election. "When I was chairman of the Republican National Committee the last time we lost the White House in 1992 we focused exclusively on 1993 and 1994. And at the end of that time, we had both houses of Congress with Republican majorities, and we'd gone from 17 Republican governors to 31. So anyone talking about 2012 today doesn't have their eye on the ball. What we ought to worry about is rebuilding our party over the next year and particularly in 2010," Barbour said at the November 2008 Republican Governors conference.

2011 election

ran for re-election at the 2011 RNC winter meeting. Other candidates were Reince Priebus, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman; Ann Wagner, former ambassador to Luxembourg; Saul Anuzis, former Republican Party chairman of Michigan; and Maria Cino, former acting secretary of transportation under George W. Bush. Steele's critics increasingly called on him to step down as RNC chair when his term ended in 2011. A debate for chairman hosted by Americans for Tax Reform took place on January 3 at the National Press Club. The election for chairman took place January 14 at the RNC's winter meeting with Reince Priebus winning on the seventh ballot after Steele and Wagner withdrew.
CandidateRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
Reince Priebus45525458678097
Saul Anuzis24222124323743
Maria Cino32302829403428
Ann Wagner232732282817Withdrew
Michael Steele44373328Withdrew