OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel defended herself after being grilled by Fox News host Laura Ingraham after disastrous election results.
McDaniel has been the head of the Republican Party as it has experienced several disappointing elections and calls have grown louder for her to resign.
During the Republican presidential primary debate this week in Miami, for instance, candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said she needed to step aside.
“We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day,” the candidate said.
“I think there is something deeper going on in the Republican party here, and I am upset about what happened last night,” he said the day after the election. “Let’s speak the truth. Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022, no red wave that never came.”
“We got trounced last night in 2023, and I think we have to have accountability in our party,” he said as he said that she should resign, before posting something similar on X, formerly Twitter.
“I’m sick and tired of this Republican Establishment that has made us a party of losers. Where is the accountability for years of losing: 2018, 2020, 2022 and now last night? I’m calling on @GOPChairwoman to resign tonight,” he said.
The RNC boss was prepared for the questions as she spoke to Ingraham on Friday.
“Vivek and others are saying that under your leadership, Republicans have lost election after election, and positing the question, why should you retain your job given the track record of the party under your leadership?” the host said. “And to that, what do you say?”
McDaniel danced around the question by saying she is going to “continue to focus on Joe Biden and Democrats,” before Ingraham interrupted her.
“All that, all that you just said, I couldn’t agree with more,” the host said. “I know you believe in accountability. You talk about it all the time.”
“Listen, when Vivek didn’t vote in 2016, I was leading Michigan to the first [Republican presidential election] win in history in 30 years. In 2018, we defied the odds. We got three senators, people like Josh Hawley that allowed President Trump to build the largest conservative majority on the Supreme Court. In 2022, the RNC, which is a turnout machine, right? We’re not the messengers. We don’t create the messages for the campaigns. Those are the consultants who get very well paid –” she said before Ingraham brought the focus back to the question.
INGRAHAM: Well one, of the things that happened was, I think in Virginia, people were wondering where the money was, whether they were gonna get some help from the RNC. And I know at one point you said that you were not asked for money in Virginia.
But a source, a Republican source familiar with the Youngkin team in Virginia told the Angle late tonight that, “That’s false and their” – meaning your – “story keeps changing. Anyone who thinks Virginia Republicans wouldn’t want to help when we knew we’d be outspent isn’t being serious.”
You know, Ronna, they were $8 million.
MCDANIEL: Glenn Youngkin did a phenomenal job and he raised a lot of money. A lot of people don’t understand fundraising. I can’t raise state dollars. I don’t get unlimited convention and state dollars.
INGRAHAM: Yeah.
MCDANIEL: And these were state house and state senate races.
INGRAHAM: I get it.
MCDANIEL: So, I mean, come on. Can you just–
INGRAHAM: All right.
MCDANIEL: These are people who come after me all the time. They’re on Twitter. They’re all the time. And let’s see their results. What did they do in Virginia? How much money did they give?”
INGRAHAM: Yup.
MCDANIEL: But let me stand by something else. In 2022–
INGRAHAM: Ronna.
MCDANIEL: – we took back the House
INGRAHAM: Ronna, we gotta roll.