In a statement, Ms. McDaniel sought to assuage some of the concerns, saying, “RNC’s 168 members choose who will lead RNC and I hope to win their support, which is the most important endorsement.”
Committee spokesperson Mike Reed said Mrs. McDaniel and the committee had always followed regulations regarding non-endorsement of candidates in the Republican primary. “This policy of remaining completely neutral in the primaries will continue as long as she is president,” said Mr. Reid.
Senior Republican officials close to Mrs. McDaniel They said they were already pursuing new arrangements between RNC and the Trump campaign over donor lists and data, which would provide Mr. Trump with copies of certain lists but also leave them available to other candidates through the committee. Moreover, these Republicans said, there are limits to the influence of the Congolese National Congress in the party primaries.
Mrs. McDaniel, a native of Michigan, has a gilded political lineage: she is the niece of Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and granddaughter of George Romney, Michigan’s three-term governor. She earned Mr. Trump’s trust in part by urging him to make trips to her home state during the 2016 campaign, which he credits with helping him win there.
A person familiar with the discussions said she had told people she had no intention of seeking another term after 2022, a move that could ensure her exit before the 2024 presidential term.
So far no one has appeared to challenge Mrs. McDaniel, but some influential Republicans are trying to stir up support for Senator Corey Gardner of Colorado, who has just lost his candidacy for re-election and is a darling of the pro-Trump and skeptical Republican. Both in Washington. Mr. Gardner did not respond to two emails inquiring whether he had any interest in the presidency.
He has told current and former committee members who may be powerful that they will not run. This includes Mr Barbour – whose uncle, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, took over the party leadership after the Republicans lost the presidency in 1992 – and Rennes Preppus, Mr Trump’s first chief of staff and a former chairman of the Federal National Council.
