As former President Donald Trump appears poised to claim the Republican nomination early in the primary season, there’s a shakeup brewing at the Republican National Committee.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel could step down after South Carolina’s Republican primary on Feb. 24, the Associated Press reports. The name being talked about the most to replace McDaniel at the head of the national party is North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley.
"Nothing has changed. This will be decided after South Carolina," RNC spokesman Keith Schipper said in a statement.
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Whatley has served as the chair of the North Carolina Republican Party since 2019. He is also the general counsel for the RNC. He led the state party as Republicans retook supermajorities in the state House and Senate.
He is also a close ally of Trump, who won North Carolina in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Whatley has been criticized for repeating the former president’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Whatley ran for co-chair of the RNC last year, but that effort failed despite an endorsement from Trump, according to the AP. South Carolina’s Drew McKissick won the seat for co-chair.
Whatley has not responded to Spectrum News 1’s request for comment.