Republican National Committee


The Republican National Committee is a U.S. political committee that leads the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention. 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. Ronna McDaniel is the current committee chairwoman.
The RNC's main counterpart 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.
The only person to have chaired the RNC and later become U.S. president is George H. W. Bush. A number of the chairs of the RNC have been state governors.
In 2013, the RNC began an outreach campaign toward American youth and minority voters, after studies showed these groups generally perceived that the Republican Party did not care about their concerns.

Chairs of the Republican National Committee

Elections

1993 election

1997 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

2013, 2015, and 2017 elections

Priebus won re-election with near unanimity in the party's 2013 meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was re-elected to a third term in 2015, setting him up to become the longest serving head of the party ever.
After winning in November 2016, President-elect Donald Trump designated Priebus as his White House Chief of Staff, to begin upon his taking office in January 2017; David Bossie of Maryland was seen as a potential next RNC chairman.
Trump then recommended Ronna Romney McDaniel as RNC Chairwoman and she was elected to that role by the RNC in January 2017.

Current Republican National Committee members

A collapsible list of the voting members of the Republican National Committee follows, as of August 2018. The state chair, national committeeman and national committeewoman each receive one vote at RNC meetings and vote for RNC Chairmanship.
StateChairpersonCommitteemanCommitteewoman
AlabamaTerry LathanPaul ReynoldsVicki Drummond
AlaskaTuckerman BabcockPeter GoldbergCynthia Henry
American SamoaUtu Abe MalaeSu'a SchusterAmata C. Radewagen
ArizonaKelli WardBruce AshLori Klein Corbin
ArkansasDoyle WebbJonathan BarnettJonelle Fulmer
CaliforniaJessica PattersonShawn SteelHarmeet Dhillon
ColoradoJeff HaysGeorge LeingVera Ortegon
ConnecticutJ. R. RomanoJohn H. FreyLeora Levy
DelawareMike HarringtonW. Laird Stabler IIIEllen Barrosse
District of ColumbiaJosé CunninghamRobert KabelJill Homan
FloridaBlaise IngogliaPeter FeamanKathleen King
GeorgiaDavid ShaferJason ThompsonGinger Howard
GuamJerry CrisostomoJay RojasMargaret Metcalfe
HawaiiShirlene OstrovGene WardMiriam Hellreich
IdahoJennifer LockeDamond WatkinsCindy Siddoway
IllinoisTim SchneiderRichard PorterDemetra DeMonte
IndianaKyle HupferJohn HammondAnne Hathaway
IowaJeff KaufmannSteve SchefflerTamara Scott
KansasKelly ArnoldMark KahrsHelen Van Etten
KentuckyMac BrownMike DuncanKC Crosbie
LouisianaLouis GurvichRoss Little Jr.Lenar Whitney
MaineDemi KouzounasAlex WilletteEllie Espling
MarylandDirk HaireDavid BossieNicolee Ambrose
MassachusettsJim LyonsRon KaufmanKeiko Orrall
MichiganRon WeiserRobert SteeleKathy Berden
MinnesotaJennifer CarnahanRick RiceJanet Beihoffer
MississippiLucien SmithHenry BarbourJeanne C. Luckey
MissouriTodd GravesGordon KinneSusie Eckelkamp
MontanaDebra LammArt WittichJennifer Fielder
NebraskaDan WelchJ. L. SprayLydia Brasch
NevadaMichael J. McDonaldLee HoffmanDiana Orrock
New HampshireStephen StepanekSteve DupreyJuliana Bergeron
New JerseyDoug SteinhardtBill PalatucciVirginia Haines
New MexicoRyan CangiolosiHarvey YatesRosalind F. Tripp
New YorkNick LangworthyCharles P. JoyceJennifer Saul Rich
North CarolinaRobin HayesMark BrodyAda Fisher
North DakotaRick BergShane GoettleSandy Boehler
Northern Mariana IslandsJames A. AdaDiego BenaventeEsther Fleming
OhioJane TimkenJim DickeJo Ann Davidson
OklahomaPam PollardSteve CurryCarolyn McLarty
OregonBill CurrierSolomon Yue, Jr.Chris Barreto
PennsylvaniaLawrence TabasRobert B. AsherChristine Jack Toretti
Puerto RicoJennifer G. ColonLuis FortuñoZoraida "Zori" Fonalledas
Rhode IslandBrandon BellSteve FriasLee Ann Sennick
South CarolinaDrew McKissickGlenn McCallCindy Costa
South DakotaDan LedermanRied HolienSandye Kading
TennesseeScott GoldenOscar BrockBeth Campbell
TexasJames DickeyRobin ArmstrongToni Anne Dashiell
US Virgin IslandsJohn CanegataJevon WilliamsLilliana Belardo de O'Neal
UtahRob AndersonThomas WrightAnne-Marie Lampropoulos
VermontDeb BilladoJay ShepardSuzanne Butterfield
VirginiaVacantMorton BlackwellCynthia Dunbar
WashingtonCaleb HeimlichJeff KentFredi Simpson
West VirginiaMelody PotterLarry PackKayla Ann Kessinger
WisconsinBrad CourtneyTom SchreibelMary F. Buestrin
WyomingFrank EathorneRichard GeorgeMarti Halverson

Para Bellum Labs

In February 2014, during the chairmanship of Reince Priebus, the RNC launched an in-house technology incubator called Para Bellum Labs. This new unit of the RNC was first headed by Azarias Reda, an engineer with a PhD in computer science from the University of Michigan. The effort is designed to help the party and its candidates bridge the technology gap. Para Bellum, translated from Latin, means "prepare for war."