McDaniel wins fourth term as RNC chairwoman

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Friday was elected to a fourth term to lead the group, decisively overcoming a challenge from fellow committee member Harmeet Dhillon who attracted a strong but ultimately insufficient amount of support from those looking for a change.

Among the 167 voting members at the RNC's annual winter meeting in Dana Point, California, McDaniel received 111 votes, compared to 51 for Dhillon, four for MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and one for former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin from New York, who was not nominated as a candidate in the election.

McDaniel needed 84 votes to win. 

Out of the 168 RNC members, 167 voted in the secret balloting.

McDaniel will now serve another two-year term. 

In the days and weeks after the November 2022 midterms, McDaniel faced a groundswell of opposition from within the RNC and the larger Republican Party, which retook the House by a much smaller margin than anticipated and failed to retake the Senate.

Under McDaniel, the GOP also lost the House in 2018 and both chambers of Congress and the White House in 2020.

Dhillon, a Californian who was an election lawyer for President Trump, emerged as a challenge and non-establishment candidate. Though she appeared to have support from the party's MAGA wing, McDaniel maintained support and won almost exactly the number of votes that insiders had projected.