RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel stepping down before party nominee is crowned weeks after Trump called for change in the GOP’s leadership

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel will leave her position on March 8 in the wake of another Republican Party primary victory for Donald Trump.

For weeks, it has been reported that McDaniel, 50, has informed those close to her of her intention to leave the role as Trump has publicly demanded a change in leadership.

The Republican front-runner has endorsed North Carolina Republican Chairman Michael Whatley and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as potential replacements, possibly as co-chairs, reports The New York Times.

“I have decided to step aside during our spring training on March 8 in Houston so that our nominee can select a seat of his choosing,” McDaniel told the Times in a statement.

“The RNC has historically undergone changes once we had a nominee, and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition. “I remain committed to winning back the White House and electing Republicans in November,” she added.

Even before his victory in South Carolina, Trump called for a change in Republican leadership

McDaniel met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month

Trump’s efforts to oust McDaniel shortly after the two met at his Mar-a-Lago residence and agreed to delay a decision on her future — reflect his urgency to force Republicans to unite behind him in a likely rematch against Biden.

Although Trump has failed to gather enough delegates to secure the nomination, he scored a potential knockout this weekend against Nikki Haley, his last major rival, in her home state of South Carolina.

At the center of Trump’s complaints about McDaniel are his false theories of voter fraud.

Trump has long complained that the RNC is not focused enough on preventing voter fraud, which he continues to falsely insist cost him the 2020 election, even as his own election officials, the Justice Department and numerous courts found no evidence to support his claims.

Trump noted in a recent statement that Whatley is “committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our elections so they can’t be stolen.”

“Chairman McDaniel has been on the road helping elect Republicans, and she will continue to work hard to defeat Biden this fall. “Nothing has changed and no decision or announcement on future plans will be made until after South Carolina,” he said.

That’s even as Haley warned her party not to give in to Trump’s wishes.

Referring to Trump’s efforts to “have the RNC name the presumptive nominee,” Haley spoke Tuesday about her rival’s moves to replace McDaniel, who has not announced her departure.

It is thought that Trump wants to install his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, in a position of power in the party

Another of Trump’s favorites is North Carolina’s Republican president, Michael Whatley

“What we saw yesterday was that he took a different approach,” she said. “Now he has decided that he has fired the chair of the RNC, he has named who will be the next chair of the RNC, his daughter-in-law will be co-chair and he is making his campaign manager the official who runs the party. Think about what is happening right now. Is that how you’re going to try to hold an election?’

Immediately after Trump’s announcement, Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said Trump is simply “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Haley’s plan if he gets the chance to lead the RNC? She would “blow it all up,” Ankney said, and fire everyone.

McDaniel, the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, was Trump’s handpicked choice to lead the RNC shortly after his 2016 election.

The 50-year-old from Michigan was a strong supporter of the former president and helped reshape the governing body of the Republican Party in his image, but Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement increasingly blamed her for the struggles of the party during the recent national elections.

An effective campaign takeover of the RNC would benefit both the committee and Trump’s campaign — at least in theory.

The RNC has struggled with fundraising, especially after Trump tried to prevent his name and image from being used to raise money.

An integration would also open the door to more skeptical party donors who remain reluctant to give directly to Trump’s campaign or super PAC. Campaign finance disclosures released last week showed the RNC had just $8 million in the bank and $1 million in debt.

None of Trump’s leadership wishes will come to fruition without an in-person vote by the Republican National Committee, which is expected to meet later this spring.

Under Trump’s preferred arrangement, senior adviser Chris LaCivita would retain his current role leading Trump’s campaign and also become chief operations officer of the RNC.

Whatley, who serves as general counsel of the RNC, would take over from McDaniel.

He has paid particular attention to the prospect of voter fraud in recent years, after taking credit for hiring a large contingent of lawyers in the run-up to the 2020 election. Last year he failed to become co-chair of the RNC despite Trump’s support.

Lara Trump would then probably take over the number 2 position of the RNC.

She is married to Trump’s middle son, Eric, and has played a particularly active role in all three of her father-in-law’s campaigns. She briefly considered running for Senate in her home state of North Carolina in 2022, but decided against it, saying she wanted to spend more time with her young children.

The New York Times first reported that Trump was considering installing Lara Trump at the RNC.

Meanwhile, Democratic National Committee spokesman Alex Floyd said, “Trump is making it clear that the Republican Party is home to insurrectionists and extreme MAGA fanatics.”

“Whatley has threatened our democracy once before when he spread lies about the outcome of the 2020 election,” Floyd said. “Now Trump is rewarding him just by showing that there will be a vote on democracy in November.”