Ronna McDaniel will step down as RNC chair on March 8

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said Monday she will step down in March as former President Donald Trump coasts toward the presidential nomination and shapes the organization to his liking.

Ms. McDaniel served as chairwoman since 2017 but decided to step aside under pressure from Mr. Trump, as The Washington Times reported earlier this month.

In her statement, Ms. McDaniel said she would formally resign on March 8 at the RNC’s spring training session in Houston “to allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing.”

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

Ms. McDaniel vocally supported Mr. Trump, but the failure to produce a “red wave” in the 2022 midterm sparked friction within the GOP, and Mr. Trump grumbled over the RNC’s decision not to cancel some primary debates in the current presidential cycle.

“Ronna, if you want to come on stage tonight and look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign, I will yield my time to you,” then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said from the GOP primary debate stage in November.

Ms. McDaniel’s decision to leave in the heat of the 2024 campaign is not a surprise. Mr. Trump recently said he would recommend ways to promote “RNC growth” after the South Carolina primary, which he won on Saturday.

Mr. Trump wants Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to replace Ms. McDaniel, and he’s proposed Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, as co-chair.

“This is a position for which I never imagined I would run, but I also never imagined that our country would be in such dire straits,” Ms. Trump said at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. “It is time for change, it is time to fight and it is time to win.”

The current RNC co-chair, Drew McKissick, announced Monday he would step aside.

He said that “being willing to put self aside for the sake of building a team and focusing on winning is a big part of being successful.”

Mr. Trump also wants Chris LaCivita, a top campaign aide, to be the RNC’s chief operating officer.

The RNC is likely to defer to Mr. Trump’s picks when it fills the looming vacancies. One sticking point is whether the RNC would be willing to pay any of Mr. Trump’s legal fees as he faces over 90 criminal counts in a quartet of cases.

Mr. LaCivita recently said no RNC funds would be used for Mr. Trump’s legal expenses, and Ms. Trump has suggested the same.

“Every penny will go to making sure Donald Trump will be the 47th president, to ensuring that we have great candidates to expand our lead in the House and to take back the Senate,” she told ABC News.

Ms. McDaniel previously served as chair of the Republican Party in Michigan, which Mr. Trump won in 2016, and replaced Reince Priebus as RNC chair after that election.

On Monday, she pointed to a series of accomplishments during her tenure, including retaking the House in 2022 and creating an Election Integrity Department.

She thanked her family, RNC members who elected her four times and “President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead our Party.”