The Republican National Committee is requesting all states provide the party information on how it maintains and cleans up its voter rolls, as a part of its latest election integrity initiative, the Daily Caller learned first.
The RNC’s election integrity unit is launching one of its largest ever records requests on Tuesday, sending requests for records to 48 state election officers and the city of Washington, D.C., an official shared with the Caller. The party is requesting that the states share all documents pertaining to how they maintain their voter registration lists, a hot issue that popped up towards the end of the 2024 presidential cycle.
By requesting the information, the RNC is trying to confirm that only eligible voters are registered to vote in their respective states across the country, an official told the Caller. The party is also requesting documents related to how each state removes voters who are no longer eligible, like non-citizens, criminals or those who have died.
“The RNC is once again taking action to make our elections more secure. Voters have a right to know that their states are properly maintaining voter rolls and quickly acting to clean voter registration lists by removing ineligible voters. If states unlawfully block our requests, or if we discover that states have failed to accurately maintain their voter rolls, the RNC stands ready to act,” chairman Michael Whatley told the Caller.
Under the National Voter Registration Act and state specific public records laws, states are required to maintain and provide records to the public on how they are maintaining accurate lists of registered voters. The party did not request documents from North Dakota, which does not have a formal voter registration process, and Maryland.
During the 2024 election, some states made an effort to clean up their voter rolls but the Biden-Harris Department of Justice sued them to stop. After Secretary of State Wes Allen identified 3,251 registered voters on Alabama’s voter rolls that had been issued noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security, the DOJ alleged that it was too close to election day for the state to make sure a move. A similar situation occurred in Virginia.
Throughout the 2024 election cycle, the RNC filed more than 100 election integrity lawsuits across 20 states, according to the party’s website. Though it is an off-election year, the RNC is moving forward with its legal efforts, including building its staff and investigating matters that take more time, an official previously told the Caller.
“Just because the election happened and President Trump won doesn’t mean we stopped or we’ve accomplished some sort of goal or that we’ve reached the finish line — because we haven’t,” the official told the Caller.
Having really built up its election integrity department over the last presidential cycle, the party is positioned to make progress leading up to the 2026 midterms. Voter list maintenance is a priority for the party in the off years, the official previously explained.
“As we continue, we’re going to leverage all of those advantages to do more of what we did, which was build an amazing field program around this — which is the volunteer side, which is poll workers and poll watchers … and the volunteer attorneys,” the RNC official told the Caller. “We’re also going to continue our legal efforts. We are looking at new cases too.”
UPDATE (11:59 AM EST):
A previous version of this article stated that Maryland does not have a formal voter registration process. Maryland does have formal voter registration. The article has been updated accordingly.
The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) director of election integrity and senior advisor for election integrity sent a memo Monday to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump showing they have recruited hundreds of thousands of volunteers, thousands of attorneys and held thousands of trainings ahead of the November elections, the Daily Caller has first learned.
According to the memo from the RNC’s director of election integrity, Gineen Bresso, and senior advisor for election integrity, Josh Helton, the RNC has “devoted unprecedented resources” to making sure election integrity is in place across the country. The memo explains their achievements and what else they hope to accomplish before the elections. The memo also states that the RNC has hired over 115 paid staff to facilitate volunteer training at the state level.
As of Monday, there have been 219,712 total volunteers recruited, 2004 total trainings held, and 5,077 total attorneys recruited, according to the memo.
The memo also goes on to explain the field program, legal program and communications program in regards to election integrity.
“Our field program is designed to recruit and train poll watchers and recruit poll workers whom we then submit to relevant in-state credentialing authorities. We do this by holding continuous recruitment and training events both in-person and online. Combining these two populations, we are proud to share that we have recruited more than 200,000 volunteers in total nationwide,” the memo reads.
It then says that the field program is divided among 18 states, which are categorized as the following:
Presidential Battlegrounds: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
The legal program includes links to key ongoing cases across the U.S. as well as key victories. The RNC says they have engaged with 123 lawsuits in 26 states ahead of the election.
“We have a team of full-time lawyers on staff at RNC headquarters, who are in direct and constant contact with our retained in-state counsels across the country. Retaining in-state counsel gives us a key edge in litigation: our field lawyers are barred in their states, familiar with the situation on the ground, and provide tremendous value by managing stakeholders, identifying legal opportunities, and providing key information as legal issues that will decide this election evolve in key states,” the memo continues.
“Thus far in the cycle, we have engaged in 123 lawsuits in 26 states, 82 of which are in battleground states, designed to uphold basic election integrity safeguards and protect the system from Democrats devoted to creating election day chaos.”
As for the communications program, the election integrity team for the RNC believes the “centerpiece” of their communications strategy has been to generate local press coverage by holding “Protect The Vote Tour” events across the country, saying there have been over 20 stops on the tour so far and linking to local outlets covering the events.
“In addition to this local-press driven engagement, you have both conducted hundreds of interviews with national and local press to drive our election integrity messaging into every major media market in America. Specifically, Chairman Whatley and Co-Chair Trump have combined for 446 interviews since early March mentioning election integrity,” the memo states.
“The RNC’s election integrity efforts – both in the field and in the courtroom – are unprecedented. As voting begins, we feel confident in our program’s ability to see, engage, and resolve issues that arise. We have lawyers on call, volunteers trained, and a communications apparatus capable of delivering our message,” it concludes.
Whatley and Trump told the Caller:
“With less than five weeks until Election Day, we are confident in the capacity of President Trump and the RNC’s election integrity program to win court battles and put volunteers in the room as votes are being cast and counted. Our program is designed to deliver fair, accurate, secure, and transparent elections — the American people deserve nothing less.”
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — President Donald Trump selected Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance to be his vice presidential candidate, announcing his decision on the first day of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) convention.
A day ahead of his official party nomination, Trump ended the anticipation and speculation of who his running mate for the 2024 presidential election would be. Vance will now join him on the campaign trail, just a few days after the former president survived an assassination attempt.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said on Truth Social. “J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country. J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”
Vance has traveled a long arc from Trump critic to running mate.
In 2016, Vance called himself a “never-Trump guy” and labeled the future president’s policies “absurd.” However, by 2020, Vance’s view of Trump turned around, and he endorsed the Republican nominee for president.
The two would further mend their relationship in the following years. Vance issued a formal apology in 2021 for his past comments about Trump, and said he had been a good president. Trump then endorsed Vance in his 2022 run for Senate after the pair met at Mar-a-Lago.
Vance, a Marine with degrees from Ohio State and Yale Law School, achieved notoriety with his 2016 memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ about his upbringing in Appalachian America. He has taken the mantle of a key leader in the “new right” of the Republican Party, advocating for international non-interventionism and a focus on working class and family issues domestically.
Vance was a popular pick amongst Trump’s family and ideological allies, with Donald Trump Jr. advocating heavily for his selection. He was considered by many analysts to be more ideologically aligned with Trump and the “MAGA” movement than other contenders like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Four months until election day, Trump is leading his challenger President Joe Biden in polls, both nationally and across key swing states. Biden and Trump met on the debate stage for the first time in this election cycle on June 27. When Biden stumbled through his answers looking lost and confused, Democrats began calling for the president to drop out of the race.
The 81-year-old has assured his base that he was not dropping out, even as the calls persist.
It is unclear if Vice President Kamala Harris and Vance will meet on the debate stage, as both presidential campaigns have committed to separate meetings. The Biden campaign accepted an invitation in May from CBS News for Harris to debate Trump’s running mate. But the Trump campaign previously accepted an invitation, ahead of the former president’s pick, for Vance to debate Harris on Fox News.
Two weeks after Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential primary, Donald Trump quickly moved to stack the Republican National Committee (RNC) with his own leadership.
The former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley took over as co-chairs, while senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita was named chief of staff. But the changes didn’t stop there — election integrity staff were asked to reapply for their positions while the unit got a new leader of its grassroots operation: Christina Bobb.
A former One America News anchor and lawyer for Trump, Bobb was named senior counsel to the RNC’s election integrity team following the takeover by the campaign. With less than five months before the 2024 election, Bobb has gotten right to work to fill in what she described as “gaps” in the previous RNC leadership’s election integrity strategy.
“What the grassroots have been complaining about, and people who were crying out to the Trump campaign were saying, ‘Hey, we’re trying to get involved and we’re having a hard time getting involved. What do we need to do?’ So that’s my top priority, making sure people who want to be involved have a way to get involved in what we’re doing, whether it’s directly with the RNC, or more likely with the state parties,” Bobb told the Caller.
Since starting at the RNC, Bobb’s sole focus has been at the grassroots level, while other staffers continue their work on the litigation side. Part of the grassroots push is the party’s “Protect the Vote” initiative, which helps people across the country sign up to be credentialed to help as poll workers, challengers or observers.
On the site’s front page, a handful of states’ sign-ups are featured, including Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Volunteers can indicate if they are interested in being a poll watcher, poll worker or working in another role. Signees are also asked if the are a lawyer or a law student.
The RNC announced Monday their “Protect the Vote” tour, which will “rally voters for President Trump and train volunteers” as members of the party travel to Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
“We want to make sure that we can credential as many people as want to be credentialed and get as many people on the shift, as many have time and availability to do it. So that that’s the main focus from the RNC, is making sure that people are going to protect the vote to make sure they’re going through the RNC process,” Bobb told the Caller.
“And of course, working with state parties, it filters down to state parties they are all a part of this as well. And then the state parties ideally have their own operations as well. So I just want to make sure it’s as robust as possible,” Bobb added.
In a similar vein, Team Trump and the RNC launched “Trump Force 47,” an organization focused on mobilizing grassroots supporters ahead of the election. The site asks signees if they want to help with a variety of initiatives, such as calling targeted voters and outreach, poll watching and hosting a “Trump House Party.”
By November, Bobb hopes to have droves of volunteers across the country ready to be poll watchers and workers. The closer the election gets, the more that election-day operations take precedent over litigation, Bobb told the Caller.
“I want to have a massive red wave of volunteers, of workers, of people who actually work in their county. I don’t want this to be another election where we’re like, oh, ‘Democrats stole it again.’ We have to have more people than we have ever had working the election. It’s not enough to just vote, it’s not enough to send in a donation. I’m so grateful for people that are donating by all means, please, we need the support,” Bobb told the Caller.
“But more than that we need the people, whether if you have an hour that you can give, if you have a couple of weeks you can give, whatever time you can give to be a part of this process. We absolutely need you,” she added.
The RNC holds weekly trainings for volunteers in an effort to ensure that “every legal vote is counted this election,” Danielle Alvarez, RNC and Trump campaign spokeswoman, told the Caller. In addition to filling in the grassroots gaps, the new leadership from Trump’s camp at the RNC has worked to gin up voter turnout in 2024, she added.
“Despite the problems with the elections system, we have to play with the hand we’re dealt. This election, the president has been very clear that all patriots need to vote in the legal way that works for them — whether that’s early, by mail, or on Election Day,” Alvarez told the Caller.
While Bobb continues to work on the RNC’s grassroots strategy, the party is relying on her to be the “spokesperson” of the operation to help communicate and work with local activists, Alvarez told the Caller.
“Christina Bobb’s role is twofold — she is senior counsel and spokesperson activating grassroots for the election integrity program. She has so much credibility on the election integrity issue with the grassroots and is able to deliver this message effectively,” Alvarez told the Caller.
“[She] works with the activists and the folks locally and is a critical pipeline of communication working with the experts on the ground. This bolsters our aggressive election integrity operations in battleground states,” Alvarez added.
While the Trump take over of the RNC came with several personnel changes, Bobb’s hire came under particular scrutiny.
Following Bobb’s hire, Democrats and their media allies alike rushed to criticize the move by the GOP. The New Republic wrote that the hire “ought to scare” Americans and MSNBC called it an “odd choice.”
“As far as what the left thinks about me – you mean the same outlets that lied to us about Hunter Biden’s laptop? The 51 intelligence officials? Joe Biden’s foreign income? Cocaine in the White House? The Russia Hoax? The Ukraine Hoax? The Steele Dossier? The FBI’s involvement in the ‘insurance policy’? The Biden White House’s involvement in censoring free speech? The Biden White House’s involvement in dictating content to social media companies?” Bobb said. “I couldn’t care less what they say about me, or anything else.”
And despite what the critics have to say, several legal onlookers are impressed with what they’ve seen coming out of the RNC following the leadership change.
“I have seen, with Trump and his folks they have brought in, they’re putting a super emphasis [on election integrity]. It went from an emphasis to a super emphasis on getting involved in the litigation, helping to defend the election reforms that states have passed, and actually going after some of the other states that are trying to do things that are not good, like states that refuse to clean up their voter rolls like in Michigan,” Hans Von Spakovsky, the manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, told the Caller, adding that the party is putting more into the grassroots operation than he has ever seen.
The RNC has filed numerous lawsuits since the leadership change, but Von Spakovsky pointed to the litigation the party has filed surrounding states’ voter rolls. In Michigan, the RNC sued the secretary of state, alleging that they failed to abide by the National Voter Registration Act’s requirement that voter rolls must keep “clean and accurate voter registration records.” The party filed a similar lawsuit in Nevada over its handling of the voter rolls.
“The Trump campaign and the RNC are much better prepared this time, and while there’s a lot of work to be done, they’ve done a very good job of hiring the right team and devoting the right resources to ensure that Biden doesn’t steal the election again,” Mike Davis, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and founder of the Article 3 Project, told the Caller, adding that the grassroots effort has made great progress.
Before the leadership change, Davis, alongside other election integrity advocates, expressed concerns about the right’s efforts on election preparation. In March, a Daily Caller analysis found that a number of key battleground states, including those that delivered Biden the presidency, were poised to use many of the election procedures in 2024 that outraged Republicans in 2020.
When it comes to that grassroots operation, Whatley previously said the goal is to have 100,000 people as poll workers on election day.
“The President chose Chairman Michael Whatley because of what he has done for election integrity and what he did in North Carolina. I’ve heard Chairman Whatley say that in conversations he has with the President, the President will ask ‘how’s it playing?’ and the Chairman will say something to the effect of, ‘Sir, we’re going to turn out the vote and we’re going to protect the vote.’ And the President responds, ‘I’ll turn out the vote, you protect the vote,’” Alvarez told the Caller.
“It is President Trump’s number one priority, and it will live year-round at the RNC,” she added.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-06-14 05:02:172024-06-14 05:08:26New Face Of Election Integrity Lays Out November Game Plan
Through the bad polls, disruptive protests and fitness questions, President Joe Biden has continued to have one big advantage over the Trump campaign — but it appears to be fading fast.
While Biden has battled concerns about his age and backlash from the Israel-Hamas war, the president and the Democratic National Committee continued to outraise their Republican counterparts by millions of dollars. As Donald Trump dominated Biden both nationally and across key swing state polls, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Trump campaign struggled with finances.
But over the last two months, the RNC and Trump campaign have started to make a dent in the cash advantage Biden once had. As Trump world continues to announce record-breaking fundraising statistics, one of Biden’s few apparent edges in a tight election could fall by the wayside, strategists told the Daily Caller.
“Democrats will keep up. It’s not going to be a blowout, money wise, but they expected Trump to lose the ability to raise money by charging him with these over the top prosecutions,” Mark R. Weaver, a GOP strategist, told the Caller.
“They didn’t realize that the liquid they were throwing on the fire was not water, but gasoline,” he added.
Trump’s fundraising blitz started as the GOP primary wrapped up. The RNC and the campaign raised $76 million in the month of April, about $25 more than Biden and the DNC. It was the first time the Trump camp surpassed their competitors in monthly fundraising.
The month prior, the Biden campaign and the DNC brought in $90 million, while Trump and the RNC brought in $65.6 million. In total, Trump’s camp had $93.1 million cash on hand while Biden’s team had $192 million at the end of March.
May is already shaping up to be an even bigger month for the Trump campaign than before. After a Manhattan jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, the former president’s campaign donation site crashed from an influx of visitors. The campaign later announced that 24 hours after the verdict, it had raised $54.8 million. For the total month, the campaign recently announced it had raised about $141 million. FEC filings revealing fundraising totals for both campaigns in the month of May are not yet available.
The fundraising surge lines up with the unification of the Trump campaign with the RNC. In the spring, Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara and allied operative Michael Whatley became co-chairs of the party organization. Key Trump campaign officials also took positions with the RNC.
“This was a much needed shot in the arm, and although I anticipate Biden and the entire Democratic apparatus having more money, just like they’ve had going back to 2016, Trump needs enough to make sure that they can run the kind of ground game and turnout effort that he needs to win,” Scott Jennings, a longtime GOP adviser in Kentucky and veteran of numerous campaigns, told the Caller.
Jennings added that a lot of Trump’s support comes from mid- and low-propensity voters and unregistered Americans who are less reliable to turn out on election day.
“When I think about what Trump would do with a massive cash infusion, my mind immediately goes to, oh, he’s going to put this into a ground game to ensure that these mid- to low-propensity voters actually come out. And if he’s able to do that and jack up the turnout among that audience, he’s going to win,” he added.
Trump’s court cases, Weaver told the Caller, have had the opposite impact Democrats and his opponents hoped they would.
“It looked as though [Trump] might get beat in the primaries by Ron DeSantis or someone else, but then the Biden White House and its allies started bringing bogus and over the top charges against Donald Trump, and it angered a lot of people in the middle who see America as a place where the rule of law and due process matter,” Weaver said.
“Biden and his minions thought that they were politically drowning Donald Trump. But what they’re really doing is lifting the tide of his support in such a way that the Biden campaign will start to fall behind in the fundraising game,” Weaver continued, adding that the new influx of funds could cause issues for Biden.
MAGA Inc., the super PAC backing Trump, announced that it raised $70 million during the month of May, the New York Times reported. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said it had a record breaking day following Trump’s verdict, bringing in $300,000. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) announced that it raised $360,000 after the former president’s guilty conviction.
While Trump’s new loads of cash are noticeable, Democratic strategist Brad Bannon told the Caller that he does not think it would impact the race, because the former president already gets a ton of advertising at virtually no cost.
“I’m inclined to say no for a couple of reasons. One is when there was a big fundraising gap, I didn’t think it mattered much, because Donald Trump makes his own media and he never has to pay for it. If Donald Trump didn’t spend a cent on his presidential campaign for the next five months, I doubt it would make much difference. The reality is, you know, better or worse, he manufactures his own media,” Bannon told the Caller.
Bannon added that he didn’t think most voters, though maybe a small number in swing states, would pay much attention to the ads that the campaigns are poised to spend their cash on. Jennings believes that the cash won’t all go to ads, but instead toward elevating the campaign’s ground game.
“I don’t think they’re worried about it,” Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist, told the Caller about the Biden campaign. “I think they expected it. If you notice, Biden doesn’t seem to be phased by polls. Biden doesn’t seem to be phased and that worked well for him in 2020.”
Biden’s positioning in the polls now, however, is worse than at the same time in 2020.
While the Biden campaign has not revealed what it raised in May, other affiliated groups are still working to give the president a fundraising edge. Climate Power and Future Forward USA Action, two nonprofit organizations, are planning to spend $50 million on ads that tout Biden’s actions throughout his administration, the Washington Post reported.
Following the Trump verdict, a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed that a majority of registered voters, 67%, think that Trump’s guilty conviction will have no effect on how they’ll vote in the 2024 election. Seventeen percent of Americans said it would make them less likely to vote for Trump.
With five months until the election and variables to change, Jennings told the Caller the latest fundraising news should be encouraging for Republican voters.
“It really ought to give Republicans some optimism about what they’re going to be able to accomplish beyond just your normal TV ads, but with the sort of campaign, mechanics, and infrastructure that’ll be used to turnout all these voters,” Jennings told the Caller.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-06-07 04:45:052024-06-07 04:47:53Biden’s One Big Election Advantage Is Quickly Being Erased
The Biden Administration has abandoned Israel and the American Jewish community, in order to advance Obama’s jihad against the Jewish state.
This presents President Trump with an enormous opportunity to increase his share of the Jewish vote. Jewish Americans have enough voting power in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and even Michigan to possibly help President Trump win in November.
“This is my pledge to you: We will confront antisemitism. We will stamp out prejudice. We will condemn hatred. We will bear witness. And we will act.”
Washington, DC – Today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, “Yom HaShoah,” the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Trump Campaign, and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) released a video contrasting Biden and Trump’s response on antisemitism.
“Joe Biden’s weakness is on display for all the world to see as he refuses to condemn the antisemitic violence on college campuses and continues to backtrack on his support for Israel. As chaos envelopes the world, this is no time for ambiguity – we need President Donald J. Trump back in office to restore order, support our critical ally, Israel, and bring peace through strength once more.” – Michael Whatley, RNC Chairman
The video highlights the pro-Hamas riots terrorizing college campus nationwide. The rampant antisemitic violence continues to rise as Tuesday, May 7th marks the seven-month anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
“It took Joe Biden weeks to even talk about the Biden Campus Protests, and he refused to outright condemn the pro-Hamas, pro-genocide mobs and the sad truth is that he needs their votes. These violent, antisemitic riots all started because of Joe Biden’s failed foreign policy. He enabled Iran, which led to the war in Israel. Joe Biden weakness and failure is why chaos is breaking out across our country and all over the world. Americans can rest secure in the fact that on day one, President Trump will restore peace through strength abroad, and demand law and order at home.” – Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary
The Jews of America are rethinking their situation. And the Democratic Party, which is utterly indifferent to them, is likely to pay a deep price for its anti-Semitism I discussed with U.S. elections expert Richard Baehr on my latest show.https://t.co/Z3TAbgRld7
A non-partisan word to our elected #Democrats: Do not take American #Jews for granted. Be careful: The results of the upcoming elections do not only depend on Michigan. pic.twitter.com/mLE79B91Hy
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-05-08 06:21:452024-05-08 09:16:58Republican National Committee and Republican Jewish Coalition Release Video Contrasting Biden and Trump on Anti-Semitism
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and affiliated groups announced on Wednesday they brought in over $65.6 million during the month of March.
The haul includes funds raised by the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and their affiliated entities, according to a press release. Trump’s fundraising apparatus, which has been lagging behind President Joe Biden’s, also announced topping $93.1 million in cash on hand going into April.
“Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts, and our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum,” Susie Wiles, senior advisor to the Trump campaign, said in a statement. “Republicans may not be beneficiaries of the self interested largess from Hollywood and Silicon Valley elites, but President Trump is proud to be supported by donations from voters who are the backbone of this nation, which will fuel Republicans up and down the ballot.”
Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have not yet announced their March totals, but the campaign topped $25 million at a ritzy fundraiser in New York City on Thursday with help from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democrats ended February with a combined $97.5 million on hand, far out-pacing Trump and the RNC’s $44.8 million, according to Politico.
Folks, you don’t want to miss this one.
Join @BarackObama, @BillClinton, and me tomorrow for a grassroots fundraiser as we discuss what’s on the ballot in this election and how we will defeat Trump again.
Trump has been faced with mounting legal fees throughout his 2024 campaign, which reportedly cost his fundraising apparatus over $50 million last year, according to Axios.
“President Donald J. Trump has again created a fundraising juggernaut among Republicans. While he has been the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for less than a month, the RNC and Trump campaign are one unified operation and focused on victory,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. “We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks.”
Both Trump and Biden secured enough delegates to clinch their respective parties’ nominations with primary contests on March 12.
Neither Biden’s campaign nor the DNC immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Republicans are walking a tightrope heading into the 2024 election.
They must show their base that they are fighting hard on the issue of election integrity, which many conservatives believe cost former President Donald Trump his 2020 re-election bid.
Simultaneously, they must operate in the reality that they now live in the world of ballot harvesting and drop-boxes.
That dichotomy is why the Republican National Committee (RNC) told the Daily Caller they are committed to prioritizing election integrity efforts between now and November. They are waging lawsuits on issues ranging from ballot access to voting rules. Yet the party is also heavily pushing its “Bank Your Vote” initiative, encouraging Republicans to vote early.
Other elements of the party seem more resigned to playing by Democrats’ rules rather than trying to change them. The Caller also reached out to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which the RNC said is helping bankroll the party’s legal fights.
After sending the Daily Caller a link to an Axios article about get out the vote efforts, and then ignoring multiple follow-up requests for an interview about election integrity, NRCC spokesperson Will Reinert sent the Caller the following: “We’ve complained about your coverage several times to editors, so to tell you the truth, we really don’t care to engage on pieces we don’t care about to help you guys out.”
A prominent conservative pundit read the Reinert email and told the Daily Caller, “‘pieces we don’t care about’ is the giveaway. They’re mailing it in on election prep, in other words.”
Election integrity is, however, an issue Republican voters care deeply about: coming out of the last presidential election, nearly two-thirds of Republicans and Trump voters said they had little faith votes were counted accurately, according to one poll.
In 2020, a number of election laws were changed, and others were straight up ignored, in key states due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, voters had expanded access to methods of voting including ballot drop-boxes, mail-in voting and early voting thanks to Democratic Party legal efforts led by Marc Elias.
Elias is a high-powered attorney who has played a leading role in hundreds of lawsuits seeking to make it easier to vote and undo Republican efforts to make elections more secure.
A Daily Caller review of current election laws found that the situation on the ground remains dire for election integrity hawks. A number of key battleground states, including those that delivered Biden the presidency, are still slated to use many of the election procedures in 2024 that outraged Republicans in 2020.
At least seven are slated to deploy ballot drop-boxes. Nearly all are likely to have no-excuse absentee voting. Five are on track to have more than two weeks of early voting, and Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina will mail out absentee ballots more than six weeks before election day.
“As we’ve talked about, the damage done by Democrats to change laws during COVID was unprecedented. There’s still a lot of work to do, not everything is where we want to be right now. But that’s why we’re scaling up this massive program and filing all this litigation because we’re actively trying to fix it up,” an RNC official told the Daily Caller. “We understand that there are still issues, especially in swing states with key stuff we need to fix. That’s why this exists.”
There is still time for some of these laws to change before election day, but the clock is ticking for Republicans to make inroads toward changing them.
After media outlets began calling the election for President Joe Biden in 2020, Republicans across the spectrum of the party concluded that those changes to how America votes played at least some role in his loss. Certain conservatives will tell you it was the single biggest factor in President Joe Biden’s victory.
Tucker on the 2020 election: “It was 100% stolen. Are you joking? They completely change the way people vote right before the election on the basis of COVID? And then you censor the information people are allowed to get?”pic.twitter.com/PHzBP9Jruz
With eight months to go, Republicans are mobilizing operatives across the country and spending millions of dollars to avoid a lawfare wipeout akin to what they suffered in 2020 — but the climb is uphill, and progress has been marginal.
Now, heading into 2024, some conservatives find themselves concerned about the state of the election and whether the party is doing enough to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
“I have no idea what the Republicans are doing. But I can tell you what we did in 2020 when we were watching the Republicans stay on the sidelines,” Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True The Vote, told the Daily Caller.
I’ve seem no evidence that the Trump campaign and RNC are more prepared for 2024 hijinks than they were in 2020. (Remember it was ME going on about ballot harvesting and being ignored.)
But I’m not fake religious guy.
You go to the election with the guy on the ballot.
The Daily Caller began its investigation into Republicans’ election integrity efforts at the beginning of 2024, conducting an interview with members of the RNC’s election integrity staff in the beginning of February.
Since the interview, new leadership has taken over at the RNC and the Trump campaign has merged with the organization and made several staff shakeups.
National Review reported that the election integrity department had been a part of widespread layoffs that saw dozens of RNC staffers cast aside. However, an RNC official with direct knowledge told the Caller that reports the election integrity staff were asked to re-apply for their jobs was false. A source with the Trump campaign confirmed the same reality, stating that the staffers had not been let go.
Christina Bobb, a former Trump administration staffer who went on to be Trump’s attorney and a One America News Network anchor, has been appointed as the RNC’s election integrity senior counsel, a source told the Daily Caller. The Trump campaign source said the previous election integrity staff at the RNC would be sitting down with Bobb in the future.
When it comes to election integrity, the RNC and its partners are working, but they are playing catch up to Democrats’ nearly 40-year head start. The RNC was subjected to a consent decree in 1982 after a Democratic National Committee (DNC) lawsuit, neutering the party’s ability to engage in election integrity lawsuits until the decree was lifted in 2018.
The DNC sued the RNC in the 1980s, alleging that the party had sought to discourage African-Americans from voting through targeted mailings warning about penalties for violating election laws. The consent decree largely limited how the RNC could participate in election lawsuits.
“Early voting and GOTV effort is like the Space Race or the Arms Race of the Cold War. We defeated the Russians essentially by spending them into oblivion,” Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, told the Daily Caller. “The Democrats are spending us into oblivion. They are miles ahead. They’ve already landed on the moon a few times and we haven’t even gotten the ship off the ground.”
The RNC told the Daily Caller that the party first dove into the election integrity sphere in 2022. It was the first time the RNC had the opportunity to work with other campaign committees, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the NRCC. The effort was “loose,” a member of the RNC’s election integrity department told the Daily Caller.
The party did not offer clarification on the timeline of its election integrity efforts prior to 2022 after the Daily Caller followed up.
Following the 2022 election, then-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel moved to make the RNC’s election integrity efforts an actual department of the party. That allowed the operation to pull resources from all departments such as communications, politics and legal.
Now, in addition to its legal department, the RNC has three election integrity counsels based at its headquarters and 13 election integrity counsels in key states including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“These counsels work around the clock to identify and act on opportunities for election integrity litigation, in addition to coordinating with local law firms and stakeholders in their respective states,” Josh Helton, an RNC election integrity official, told the Daily Caller.
By the end of February, the RNC told the Daily Caller that it planned to have deputy election integrity directors in each of the 13 states where it has an election integrity counsel. Regional directors will also join the election integrity effort to oversee a specific geographic territory and oversee how the party liaised with stakeholders in the area.
In addition to the legal counsels, the RNC has “boots on the ground” as a part of their “recruitment training and shifting of poll workers and poll watchers.”
“These are folks that are going to be in those in those polling locations and they’re going to be our eyes and ears on the ground. That will be reporting back to our our election day headquarters, which happens all during early voting and Election Day,” Helton told the Daily Caller.
“Where we have volunteer and paid attorneys they are going to be taking in those calls triaging the information that comes in and taking the appropriate action,” Helton continued.
With 79 election integrity lawsuits filed in 23 states ahead of the 2024 election, the RNC told the Daily Caller that it has plans to reach at least 100. The party is also in “constant contact” with all 56 Republican state and territory parties to collaborate on election integrity litigation — even transferring money to them as needed, the RNC told the Daily Caller.
“The RNC from what I’ve seen, is is an intervener you know, it’s liberal groups that file these lawsuits. In some some of these cases, the RNC is intervening to try to help defend the state statute. That’s basically what’s going on all across the country,” Hans Von Spakovsky, the manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, told the Daily Caller. Von Spakovsky added that he thought the state of election integrity was in a better position than 2020, and does not expect a repeat of 2024.
Others disagreed.
“From what I have seen and what I haven’t, we definitely are,” conservative attorney and pundit Kurt Schlicter said about whether he thought the GOP would end up in a similar situation to 2020.
“And I would love to be wrong. I hear ‘we’ve filed 78 lawsuits’ that’s like saying if I’m a commander, ‘oh I’ve fired 78 shells,’” Schlicter added.
“They should be getting insurance. They should be filing lawsuits, and getting injunctions in place to make sure that all the state legislatures, election rules are being followed strictly. And that they’re not being waived because of COVID or Chinese flu or Chinese pneumonia or whatever the next bullshit pandemic is going to be,” Mike Davis, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and founder of the Article 3 Project, told the Daily Caller.
“You need to get injunctions early so the Democrats can’t change the rules at the last minute. If they change the rules, they’ll be in contempt of court,” Davis continued.
Count Marc Elias himself among those who are skeptical of Republican efforts. For years, dating back to 2009, Elias was the lawyer for the Democratic party. Elias is most prominently known for his work during the 2020 presidential election cycle, when he spearheaded the Democratic Party’s efforts to expand voting access and loosen election integrity provisions.
“It seems nearly certain that Republicans at all levels will continue to file frivolous post-election lawsuits and will suffer similar results in 2024,” Elias wrote in a recent report.
Ahead of the election, Elias has begun to track his own and other “pro-voting” suits. Over the last year, Elias and other “pro-voting” lawsuits saw 83 victories for voters across 26 states, according to his report.
According to Elias’ report, Republican and their election integrity forces prevailed a mere 20% of the time in 2022 and 27% of the time in 2023. The same report noted that there were 51 “pro-voting” lawsuits in 2023 to just 22 election integrity lawsuits.
Despite the improvement, Elias has predicted that Republicans will once again watch the rug be pulled out from underneath them and suffer the same fate as 2020.
For their part, the RNC dismissed Elias’ claims that 2024 will be a repeat of 2020.
The Daily Caller provided the RNC with the same report and cited specific stats from it, asking for a response to Elias’ data which portrays Republicans as behind in its legal fight. The RNC dismissed Elias’ report and concerns entirely.
“We don’t put much stock into how Elias tracks lawsuits,” an RNC spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
Results have been mixed so far for the RNC — the organization sent the Caller a list of 17 “selected litigation wins” from 2022 until now. Some were significant, such as protecting New Hampshire’s voter ID requirement or banning expanded ballot harvesting in Arizona. In Florida, the RNC strengthened Florida’s voter ID requirements.
But others were cases still in progress, or only resulted in marginal changes unlikely to significantly affect the election.
There are notable instances were Republican lawfare has failed. In 2020, ballot curing was a key issue in Pennsylvania. The state secretary of state’s office issued guidance right before election day telling counties they could inform voters of improperly filled out absentee ballots, allowing them to turn in a provisional ballot on election day to ensure they got counted.
But a number of Republican-leaning counties ignored this guidance, believing it to be a violation of state law. The Trump campaign sued after the election to discount the cured ballots from Democratic-leaning counties, but lost at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 7-0.
Republicans, including the RNC, have since sued again to overturn the ballot curing rules. But those efforts culminated last year with a state judge dismissing the RNC’s lawsuit, leaving in place the patchwork set of ballot curing policies from county to county.
The RNC’s election integrity blitz has also seemingly left party allies, as well as most voters, in the dark.
“The first thing I look for is a chain of command. I’m just a military guy. Who is the person whose lapels I grab, look in the eye and say, what is going on? And there isn’t one, to my knowledge,” Schlicter said. “I don’t see the kind of coordinated planned operation that I would look for that would memorialize best practices.”
McDaniel sat down at the end of February with the head of the RNC’s election integrity project for her podcast “Real America.”
The RNC’s Election Integrity Twitter account tweeted out a clip of the podcast to its less than 2,000 followers. The pair talked about the GOP’s efforts to make elections “FAST – Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Transparent” ahead of November.
By the party’s own measures of success, the interview was a failure — because hardly anyone actually saw it. Just over 12,000 people viewed the video where McDaniel touted their efforts to recruit poll watchers, use volunteer lawyers and the building of a war room.
Just 37 social media users liked the tweet. The podcast currently has 1,200 views on YouTube. Comments are turned off on the video.
“When I go and speak to folks around the country, a lot of folks after I do my presentation, they said ‘we didn’t know the RNC was doing all that. We had no idea.’ If people don’t know, if the tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, like if people don’t know how hard the RNC and the NRSC and NRCC are fighting to secure these elections, we’re not gonna accomplish one of our primary goals, which is to restore that faith and confidence in the electoral process,” Helton said.
The RNC isn’t working alone. It’s partnering with the NRCC and the NRSC to equally fund the election integrity operation.
After the NRCC ignored multiple interview requests from the Caller to talk about this issue, the Caller told Reinert his initial one-sentence response with an Axios link was some of the “laziest shit [I’d] ever seen,” prompting Reinert’s reply that the organization doesn’t care about this election integrity story.
Jack Pandol, NRCC communications director, followed up with the Daily Caller about the interaction with Reinert, telling the outlet that the parties were making a historic committee investment, funding the RNC’s election integrity program and “getting better at it than the Democrats.”
Pandol added that the NRCC’s legal teams are in regular communication with the RNC and NRSC as they work “jointly on the project.”
During the NRCC’s brief interaction with the Daily Caller, Pandol noted that the party’s legal team was in regular communication with the RNC. Despite the frequent conversation, however, the NRCC was unable to explain which election integrity organizations have been in communication with the RNC to work on litigation ahead of the election.
“I have no idea what local groups have or haven’t heard from the RNC, I’m not a spokesman for them so I’d suggest you talk to them about it,” Pandol told the Daily Caller.
The NRSC, the other arm of Republicans election integrity effort, painted a more candid picture about the party’s coordination with other election integrity focused groups.
“We’re getting our ass kicked in that realm. Excuse my language but like, the Dems have the Arabella, that whole network. They have so much more money than us. You haven’t seen an equivalent on our side,” a member of the NRSC election integrity effort told the Caller.
“RITE has been involved somewhat. You see a funding discrepancy across the board, not just with legal right-wing. They have more money than we do. That’s kind of the problem,” they added.
Outside of the official party apparatus, independent organizations focused on election integrity are bustling.
Some, such as Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE), have had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the RNC in a battle for election integrity.
“The main thing that we see is, first of all, wherever Marc Elias has been active and running, everywhere he is, the ecosystem of the election integrity world is there to meet him and confront him,” Derek Lyons, the president of RITE, told the Daily Caller. Because of how the election integrity ecosystem has confronted Elias, Lyons told the Daily Caller that the democratic lawyer has not had much success.
It is evident from dozens of operatives working on election integrity within the Republican sphere that there is no Marc Elias of the right. The effort appears more balkanized than that of the Democrats, for better or worse.
RITE is currently involved in 17 states such as Colorado, Ohio, Montana, Kansas and Florida where the organization is working to protect drop box safe guards, mail-in ballot rules, signature matching, voter identification and ballot harvesting rules, the organization told the Daily Caller.
In New York, Georgia, Arizona and Vermont, the group is going “on offense” and trying to enact laws around citizenship requirements, no-excuse absentee voting, invalid signature matching and double voting.
Other election integrity organizations are non-partisan, which prohibits them from working with political organizations such as the RNC. But for the Public Legal Interest Foundation (PLIF), the group finds its non-partisan nature more beneficial than if it was to work with the GOP.
“When Republicans file cases, they run into a buzzsaw,” J. Christian Adams, the president of PLIF, told the Daily Caller.
“To go on offense, you really needed to do it last year. And instead of suing on behalf of Republicans, we’re suing on behalf of a county election official who has to accept the balance,” he continued.
“You see the difference? Because if you bring a case under the brand Republican versus I’m just this poor schlub, who has to make a decision, the courts are more likely to rule in favor of the poor schlub than they are in favor of a Republican Party,” Adams added.
But within what the RNC described as a “robust” ecosystem, some groups have felt abandoned. True the Vote, one of the many nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations working within the election integrity sphere, noted that they had no clue what the GOP was doing legally ahead of the election.
“We just won a huge legal victory in Georgia against Stacey Abrams. That’s a great example of a place that the RNC or NRCC or so many that claim that they’re supportive of election integrity, could have made some kind of an overture. We fought that alone for three years and I think speaks to the distance,” Engelbrecht told the Daily Caller.
“They’re going to do what they’re going to do. We’re here on the ground, seeing things fall apart and knowing that action needs to be taken and we just are assuming that we’ll do what we can and pray that others join in the fight,” she continued.
The RNC noted to the Daily Caller that the party never heard from True the Vote regarding any possible assistance in its legal battle.
“One thing you want to avoid is doing duplicative work. So if like there’s one group, that is you know, deep in the trenches on specific Georgia litigation, maybe that frees us up to get really into a court battle in Arizona, so on and so forth,” the RNC told the Daily Caller, adding that the party has to be very careful with how it works with and communicates with nonprofits.
True the Vote later told the Daily Caller that they cannot reach out to the RNC because of their nonpartisan nature, but expressed optimism that the party would engage in their litigation in the future.
“True the Vote is very happy to hear about the RNC’s election integrity efforts. Must be a stealth campaign,” Engelbrecht hit back.
The landscape could shift with former President Donald Trump securing the GOP nomination for 2024 and integrating his campaign with the RNC.
“Securing our elections is a top priority,” Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign senior adviser told the Daily Caller in a statement. “Across the country, we will be aggressive in addressing issues related to the way elections are conducted because we must restore the integrity of the election process and Republican voters’ trust in the system. Otherwise, we risk losing future elections and losing our country.
With the new leadership in place, some organizations previously snubbed out of partnership have already seen improvement. Turning Point Action, a 501(c)4 partner of Turning Point USA, is one of those groups that has felt an increase of optimism as it has begun its “Chase the Vote” effort.
“Before with the old leadership, we heard nothing. There was no willingness or coordination to work with us.” Kolvet told the Caller. “With the new leadership we are very hopeful. We are very optimistic, there is a new vibe.”
Still, no centralized agenda seems to exist. And in the meantime, some Republicans are focused not on overturning Democrats’ election rules, but simply beating them at their own game.
To some degree, that includes the RNC itself, which is putting major juice behind its “Bank Your Vote” initiative encouraging conservatives to vote early in 2024.
Turning Point Action’s “Chase the Vote” initiative focuses on getting in touch with voters who have received mail-in ballots and encouraging them to fill it out and cast their vote. The initiative currently focuses on Arizona and Wisconsin where the organization plans to hire hundreds of full-time staffers devoted to the effort, Kolvet told the Daily Caller.
“Our ultimate goal is, I don’t think that we’re looking to set a blanket regime of election laws across the country. I don’t think that that’s realistic. We as conservatives and Republicans have a very strong belief that elections are to be left to the states to make up their minds on how to run those,” Helton said.
Regardless, time remains, and the parties leading the effort are remaining optimistic about their chances.
“You asked the question, are we in this position where we’re going to be told it’s too late to challenge things, like again in 2020. Hopefully not,” Lyons told the Daily Caller.
🚨New RNC Co-Chair @LaraLeaTrump says Republicans will start registering voters at MASSIVE events like the NRA Convention, UFC Fights, the Daytona 500 and Country Music Concerts pic.twitter.com/lVk9Guf46H
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-03-15 04:52:582024-03-17 07:41:13‘They Are Miles Ahead’: Despite ‘Election Integrity’ Hype, GOP Could Be Walking Into 2024 Legal Buzzsaw
Members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) elected a replacement for former Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel after she stepped down Friday.
McDaniel previously announced that she would resign at the RNC’s March 8 convention following reports that she had met with former President Donald Trump and told him she would step down. The members voted to replace McDaniel with North Carolina party Chairman Michael Whatley. The party also elected Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, and senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita, who will run the committee’s operations, according to The Washington Post.
“Thank you to the 168 members of the RNC and President Trump for entrusting me to serve as RNC Chairman,” Whatley tweeted shortly after being elected. “We are already well on our way to making Joe Biden a one-term President, and I look forward to working with every Republican to deliver victories up and down the ballot!
Thank you to the 168 members of the RNC and President Trump for entrusting me to serve as RNC Chairman.
We are already well on our way to making Joe Biden a one-term President, and I look forward to working with every Republican to deliver victories up and down the ballot!
McDaniel has been chairwoman of the RNC since 2017 and was previously backed by Trump before heading the party. In the last several months, McDaniel came under fire for several botched election cycles, dwindling funds and the party’s handling of its most recent debate cycle.
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy publicly called for McDaniel’s resignation during a Republican presidential debate after blasting the party for selecting NBC News to host that night’s debate. Ramaswamy also characterized the Republican Party as losers under McDaniel’s leadership.
“Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022 — no red wave … We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” Ramaswamy said before adding that he would cede his time to McDaniel if she wanted to resign.
McDaniel first told Trump that she planned to resign shortly after the South Carolina primary, sources told The New York Times (NYT). Following the reports, and then eventually McDaniel’s announcement, Trump endorsed Whatley for the chair position and Lara Trump and LaCivita for supporting roles.
“@LaraLeaTrumpand I are steadfast in our commitment to get out the vote, protect the ballot, and elect Donald J. Trump and Republicans from coast to coast this November,” Whatley tweeted.
.@LaraLeaTrump and I are steadfast in our commitment to get out the vote, protect the ballot, and elect Donald J. Trump and Republicans from coast to coast this November.
McDaniel’s RNC co-chair and South Carolina party chairman Drew McKissick also resigned from his position following the reports of a leadership shake up.
“[I’m] willing to put self aside for the sake of building a team and focusing on winning is a big part of being successful. With that in mind, I’m submitting my resignation as Co-Chair, effective upon the election of my successor at the upcoming Spring Training in Houston,” McKissick wrote in a statement.
“The RNC MUST be a good partner in the Presidential election. It must do the work we expect from the national Party and do it flawlessly,” Trump previously said in a statement. “That means helping to ensure fair and transparent elections across the country, getting out the vote everywhere — even in parts of the country where it won’t be easy — and working with my campaign, as the Republican presumptive nominee for President, to win this election and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Lara Trump unanimously elected co-chair of the RNC: Ex-president expands his influence even more in the GOP as his daughter-in-law takes key position after Ronna McDaniel stood down
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-03-09 05:47:172024-03-09 06:23:28RNC Members Elect Michael Whatley, Laura Trump & Trump Allies For Leadership Roles
Ronna McDaniel has announced she will resign as the chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), according to multiple reports.
McDaniel assumed the chairmanship of the RNC in 2017 with the support of former President Donald Trump, though her leadership has been criticized for a series of electoral losses for the Republican Party. McDaniel said on Monday that she would resign on Monday and noted that she would depart in early March.
“I have decided to step aside at our Spring Training on March 8 in Houston to allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing,” McDaniel wrote in a statement reported by NBC News. “The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition.”
American elections should be decided by American citizens — full stop. When the biggest city in America tried to let non-citizens vote in its elections, the RNC sued and beat them.https://t.co/qbsXbiraHy
Under McDaniel’s chairwomanship, the RNC had launched a program known as “Bank Your Vote” to ensure that Republican voters cast their ballots early in electoral cycles. She had also aggressively pursued lawsuits and efforts to ensure election integrity, amid skepticism of election laws in Democratic-run states.
On Feb. 12, two weeks before McDaniel’s announcement, Trump endorsed Michael Whatley, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to succeed her as RNC chair and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to become the co-chair. In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday, Lara Trump indicated that she would continue early voting efforts and election integrity during her co-chairmanship.
“Some of my proudest accomplishments include firing Nancy Pelosi, winning the popular vote in 2022, creating an Election Integrity Department, building the committee’s first small dollar grassroots donor program, strengthening our state parties through our Growing Republican Organizations to Win program, expanding the Party through minority outreach at our community centers, and launching Bank Your Vote to get Republicans to commit to voting early,” McDaniel said.
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Business entrepreneur and White House hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign launched FireRonna.com, a petition to unseat the Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the Daily Caller has learned first.
The petition aims to rally “grassroots conservatives” in support of Ramaswamy’s call for McDaniel to resign, one week after the presidential candidate called for the RNC leader to step down during the third primary debate, the Daily Caller learned. During his opening statement at the third presidential debate, Ramaswamy called the Republican Party the “party of losers” under McDaniels leadership, adding that he would cede his time to the chair if she would like to resign.
“I am sick and tired of this Republican Establishment that has made us a party of losers. Where is the accountability for years of losing: 2018, 2020, 2022 and now 2023,” Ramaswamy said in a press release obtained by the Daily Caller. “On the debate stage, I called on Ronna Romney McDaniel to resign. Now, I’m asking grassroots conservatives across the nation to join me so she can feel the power of the people. It’s time to stop the culture of surrender and losing. Resign, Ronna!”
NBC’s own Lester Holt opened the third presidential debate by asking each presidential candidate why they deserved to be the Republican nominee, rather than the front-runner former President Donald Trump. Ramaswamy used his time to answer to call out McDaniel.
“Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022 – no red wave … We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” Ramaswamy began, adding that he would cede his time on the stage to McDaniel if she would like to resign from the RNC.
Ramaswamy also blasted the RNC’s decision to allow NBC to host the third presidential debate. The RNC chose the outlet, alongside Salem Radio News and the Republican Jewish Coalition.
I’m sick and tired of this Republican Establishment that has made us a party of losers. Where is the accountability for years of losing: 2018, 2020, 2022 and now last night? I’m calling on @GOPChairwoman to resign tonight. pic.twitter.com/8hxVqWGlwL
The moderators of the evening were Holt, NBC’s own Kristen Welker as well as Salem Radio News’ Hugh Hewitt. An RNC spokesperson has previously told the Daily Caller that the RNC does not choose the moderators but the outlets hosting do.
“Think about who’s moderating this debate, this should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk. We’d have ten times the viewership, asking questions the GOP primary voters actually care about and bringing in more people to our party. We got Kristen Welker here, you think the Democrats would actually hire Greg Gutfeld to host a Democratic debate?” Ramaswamy asked.
“The fact of the matter, and Kristen I’m gonna use this time ’cause this is actually about you and the media and the corrupt media establishment, ask you the Trump-Russia collusion hoax that you pushed on this network for years — was that real? Or was that Hillary Clinton made up disinformation? Answer the question. Go,” he continued.
McDaniel responded to Ramaswamy’s viral debate moment in an interview with CNN, saying that the presidential hopeful is just “looking for headlines.”
“Last I checked, I wasn’t running for president,” McDaniel said. “He’s at 4%, he’s looking for headlines.”
Members of the RNC have been quick to defend McDaniel and her leadership after Ramaswamy’s comments, many previously telling the Daily Caller that they found the presidential candidate’s comments to be “inappropriate” and “unfair.”
“The comments from Vivek last night were unfair. Ronna is doing an amazing job uniting our party and working to make [President] Joe Biden a one-term president. She is the exact right person to chair the committee in this moment.” Nevada GOP Chairman Michael J. McDonald said in an earlier statement provided to the Daily Caller.
“No one fights harder to get Republicans elected all over this country than Chairman McDaniel,” California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson added in a statement to the Daily Caller. “The infrastructure she has built and implemented is the strongest in our party’s history, including early and unprecedented investments into California. She’s the leader we need to help Republicans take back the White House, flip the Senate and hold the House next year.”
