A second review of RNC finances by the conservative news outlet RedState released in January shows the committee with a cash flow problem heading into a critical election year. It's such a problem that the RNC voted to budget a $10 million loan for 2024.
The New York Times reported this week that McDaniel will step down – and that former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, will endorse Michael Watley, the head of North Carolina Republicans, to replace McDaniel, the former Michigan party head who has held the RNC position since 2017.
Life in the fast lane while GOP flounders
RedState managing editor Jennifer Van Laar said on American Family Radio Thursday that she first delved into RNC spending, combing Federal Elections Commission data, after Republicans' underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterms. What she found was millions spent on private jets, limos, luxury retreats and Broadway shows.
"This started back in December of 2022 and after we had come off that terrible loss in the 2022 midterm election and started looking at what she was spending the money on, and it wasn't the things that went with the election. That kind of started the ball rolling there. Ronna was able to kind of keep the members of the 168 in line and get reelected, but I think that that report that kind of went viral at that time turned a lot of donors off of the RNC and started those problems where they weren't getting the donations in 2023 that they needed," Van Laar told show host Jenna Ellis.
Republicans also struggled in 2023 with humbling state-level defeats in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky and Ohio, where voters passed a ballot initiative to make abortion rights part of their constitution.
McDaniel's performance became a topic in those sans-Trump GOP presidential debates with popular political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy launching a petition for her removal.
"I'm sick and tired of this Republican Establishment that has made us a party of losers," he wrote on X after the November elections. "Where is the accountability for years of losing: 2018, 2020, 2022 and now 2023."
RedState's follow-up report showed that McDaniel hasn't learned the losses to grow stronger in the job.
"When this [second] report, which I started in November of 2023, came out as the RNC winter meeting was starting in Las Vegas, it showed everyone that she didn't learn anything from these losses in any way. She kept spending in ways that were wasteful in addition to not giving the base or the grassroots the tools that they needed to win elections.
"We know that she starved Virginia of money that they needed that could have kept their statehouse conservative. That led to all of this," Van Laar said.
According to the journalist, her research revealed Democrats were "far" outspending Republicans in terms of getting money to the state parties, in critical get-out-the-vote texting efforts, voter file maintenance and record-keeping.
"The data … that's the backbone of everything that goes to 'get out the vote,'" Van Laar added.
What if McDaniel tries to ride out the storm?
If McDaniel doesn't step down, change won't come unless she's voted out by state delegates. Such a development could give Trump's endorsement enormous weight – but ultimately an RNC structure that in itself is flawed will have to cast the votes, as Van Laar explained.
"The problem is that a lot of these people are so disconnected from the base there in each of these state party delegations that goes to the RNC. So, they could be people who have a lot of money who don't really interact with the average person. It shows because they don't have any clue what the base wants, but yet they're in this position," she said.
Van Laar said people inside the RNC have told her that roughly a third of the committee solidly opposes McDaniel. She believes McDaniel will step down but also would not survive a vote if it comes to that.
"It's going to depend on Trump basically telling them that's what he wants because he's the presumptive nominee. He'll be leading the party, so they will defer to him," she said.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's name has been floated as possible replacement.
"There's a lot of horse trading that's going on behind the scenes right now. When Ronna resigns – and she's going to, despite her subtle protestations yesterday – 168 have to vote on it, so there's horse trading going on like 'if we get this person chair who will be co-chair?' I think McCarthy's name floating is a serious thing for one reason: he has a lot of money.
That wouldn't necessarily be a good thing, Van Laar offered.
"We know that he lost the speakership basically because of his transactional nature over the years and promising something that he really couldn't deliver to someone because he promised something to someone else. That is exactly how he would run the RNC – and it wouldn't be about winning."
