The Republican National Committee elected a new leader Friday as its former chair, Michael Whatley, formally stepped aside to run for the Senate in North Carolina.
Whatley's replacement, Trump ally Joe Gruters, was elected chair at a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday. President Trump had endorsed Gruters, a Florida state senator and longtime Trump ally, calling him a "MAGA warrior who has been with us from the very beginning."
With Trump's backing, Whatley was elected RNC chair in 2024 after Ronna McDaniel's troubled tenure, which saw Republicans slog through electoral losses and anemic fundraising.
2024 proved to be a banner year for Republicans as Trump pulled off the greatest political comeback in U.S. history and delivered historic gains with working-class voters, handing the GOP a trifecta -- control of the White House and both houses of Congress.
In an interview with the Daily Caller, Whatley touted the RNC's robust election integrity operation and a significantly improved financial outlook, which has left the party with $80 million in cash on hand. He credited Gruters, the RNC's former treasurer, with helping to replenish the party's coffers.
“He was the co-chair of the Florida campaign, along with Susie Wiles back in 2016 and has been one of the president’s steadfast allies on the committee,” Whatley explained.
“Over the last year, he has made sure that the stewardship that we’ve had in terms of fundraising and our financial shape -- which has never been better. So he’s an absolutely perfect pick. I think he’s going to be a very strong chair.”
Whatley is running to succeed Republican Sne. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced his retirement after clashing with Trump. Whatley has Trump's endorsement.
The Senate contest is expected to be a slugfest, with some predicting it will be the most expensive Senate race in American history.
While Whatley may be leaving the RNC, it remains firmly aligned with Trump and his priorities: namely, winning the midterms and keeping our elections safe from fraud.
“When we go back to the 2020 election cycle, there were really three states that I felt had an election integrity program that really succeeded. They were Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. And I put together that North Carolina program. Joe put together the Florida program,” Whatley told the Daily Caller.
Gruters was the co-chair of Trump's 2016 campaign in Florida, a onetime swing state that has turned solidly Republican under Trump's leadership.
In an interview with Fox, Gruters emphasized continuity and the centrality of Trump's vision in everything the party does.
"This is the president's party. This is the president's vision, overall. The party fully embraces the president, and we're gonna ride the president all the way to victory in the midterms, and we are going to win big," Gruters told Fox News.
