Trump congratulates McDaniel on RNC win, urges renewed election integrity push

Former President Donald Trump on Friday congratulated Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on winning a fourth term in her post and urged his supporters to focus on combatting alleged Democratic efforts to cheat in electoral contests.

"Congratulations to Ronna McDaniel on her big WIN as RNC CHAIR. Now we have to STOP THE DEMOCRATS FROM CHEATING IN ELECTIONS!" he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump did not directly endorse a candidate in the unusually heated party leadership contest, saying he was comfortable with either McDaniel or challenger, Harmeet Dhillon, one of his many attorneys. The former president has been hesitant to go along with conservative efforts to force changes in GOP leadership. He declined to back detractors to now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's leadership earlier this year.

McDaniel ultimately received 111 of the 167 votes cast in the Friday contest. Dhillon placed second with 51, while MyPillow founder Mike Lindell took four. Former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin also received one vote despite not seeking the post and one committee member did not vote.

The RNC chairwoman's record has been mixed. Republicans lost control of the House in 2018 under her leadership, and further lost control of both the Senate and presidency in 2020. The party significant underperformed polling expectations in the 2022 midterms, but reclaimed control of the House.

Polling data had suggested that an overwhelmingly majority of rank-and-file Republicans hoped the party would pick a new chair, indicating that GOP leadership's decision to retain McDaniel may be somewhat at odds with the wishes of their voters.

Trump's call to pivot to election integrity appears in line with McDaniel's way of running the party. During the 2022 midterms, the RNC waged its "most litigious" election cycle, filing dozens of election integrity lawsuits across several key battleground states in the leadup to Election Day.