Donald Trump’s expected shakeup of the Republican National Committee took a major step forward Friday, with party officials electing his handpicked execs to key roles as it desperately looks to raise cash ahead of the 2024 election’s home stretch.
Among those voted in were Trump loyalists Michael Whatley, an election-denying chairman of the North Carolina state GOP; Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to Trump’s campaign; and Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law.
Their appointments come as sources told The Daily Beast that Trump plans to purge the RNC of those who’d shown support for Republicans other than him in the fallout of the 2020 election.
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Whatley was elected Friday to be the party’s national chairman, replacing Ronna McDaniel, who was chairwoman for seven years before she fell out of favor with Trump and resigned last month.
After he was elected Friday by a unanimous voice vote, Whatley told party members he’ll expand efforts to deploy poll watchers, workers, and judges as real-time monitors on election night moving forward.
LaCivita was voted in to be the functional head of the RNC, which will enable him to also maintain his job as one of the Trump campaign’s top two advisers.
Lara Trump, meanwhile, was elected to co-chair, with her focus being on closing the party’s growing fundraising gap—a position some in the GOP have said privately was earned more by her last name than her qualifications.
Trump’s team has promised not to use RNC funds to pay his mounting legal bills, but sources told The Daily Beast these handpicked RNC execs will give him more control over party spending and priorities.
The shifting at the top is expected to be only the beginning of Trump’s reshuffling of the RNC. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist and host of the War Room podcast, told The Daily Beast in February that Trump plans to clear out staffers from top to bottom, replacing them with dedicated loyalists.
“I think within 30 days you’ll see a purge of staffers from the RNC, because it’s a hotbed for anti-Trumpism,” he said. “That’s the open secret.”
