Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel to step down

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Ronna McDaniel confirmed she will step down as chair of the Republican National Committee, after Donald Trump indicated she should resign and be replaced by a slate of new leaders that includes his daughter-in-law.

McDaniel said in a statement on Monday that it had been the “honour and privilege of my life” to be the top official at the RNC, which assists in fundraising and coordinating strategy for the Republican party. She will step aside on March 8, three days after “Super Tuesday” — when more than a dozen US states will hold primary elections.

“The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my intention to honour that tradition,” said McDaniel. “I remain committed to winning back the White House and electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November.”

McDaniel’s resignation underscores how Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican party in recent months. The former president is on an apparent glide path to securing the Republican party’s nomination for the White House after cruising to victory in the first four early voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s one-time ambassador to the UN, is the last remaining Republican challenging Trump for the party’s nomination. Despite losing to Trump by 20 points in her home state at the weekend, Haley has vowed to stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday, although her path to the White House looks increasingly unlikely.

Trump this month issued a statement publicly endorsing Michael Whatley to be the next head of the RNC, and saying his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, had “agreed to run as the RNC co-chair”.

Whatley is the chair of the North Carolina Republican party. Lara Trump is married to the former president’s son, Eric Trump, and has been an adviser to her father-in-law but has no formal political experience.

“Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” Trump said in his statement this month. “She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be great!”

Lara Trump has increasingly appeared on the campaign trail in support of her father-in-law in recent months. In a television interview last week, she said that if she were co-chair of the RNC, “every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”

A former chair of the Michigan Republican party, McDaniel was handpicked by Trump to lead the RNC in 2017. She is a niece of Republican senator and prominent Trump critic Mitt Romney, but has long been seen as a staunch supporter of the former president.

Her leadership came into question, however, after Republicans’ disappointing performances in the 2022 midterm elections, and Trump allies criticised her for sponsoring Republican presidential primary debates that the former president refused to participate in.