Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel says she hopes the days of raucous GOP presidential primaries and questions over party loyalty are over.
Mrs. McDaniel, who won her own contentious election last month for a fourth term as RNC chair, made her case Sunday for Republican White House hopefuls to remain faithful to the party ahead of what is expected to be a crowded primary race.
“This is a symbol of our party. We can’t be attacking each other so much that we lose sight — we have to beat the Democrats, we have to beat Joe Biden in 2024,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We may have divisive primaries and differences of opinions, but in the end we have to settle those to win the big picture.”
Primary candidates will be required to sign a loyalty pledge to support the eventual nominee if they want to participate in the party’s debates.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer,” Mrs. McDaniel said. “If you’re going to be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say, ‘I’m going to support the voters and who they choose as the nominee.’”
She said she expects former President Donald Trump, who has announced his candidacy, to sign the loyalty pledge but sounded the alarm over how further division could lose the GOP more elections.
“I am Mitt Romney’s niece, and I was appointed to the RNC by Donald Trump. I would support both of them if they were the nominee of our party over Joe Biden, but I don’t know if they would support each other,” Mrs. McDaniel said. “We have to come together as a party. We saw big races lost this cycle because of Republicans refusing to support other Republicans.”
