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Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Friday was unanimously reelected to steer the GOP’s national party committee for another two years.
In a speech to the RNC committee members who reelected her and other top GOP officials, McDaniel vowed to help the Republican Party regain the House and Senate majorities in the 2022 midterms and had a warning, saying: "Democrats, get ready, buckle your seatbelts. We’re coming."
MCDANIEL, ALLIED WITH TRUMP, SPOTLIGHTS RNC'S NEUTRALITY
McDaniel, the former leader of the Michigan GOP, was picked by President Trump to lead the national party soon after he was elected in 2016. She was reelected to a second two-year term in 2018.
Her reelection -- which came at the RNC’s Winter Meeting that is being held this year in Amelia Island, Fla. -- was expected. McDaniel was backed by President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as well as the vast majority of the roughly 168 RNC members.
Chair of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel stands on stage in an empty Mellon Auditorium while addressing the Republican National Convention at the Mellon Auditorium on Aug. 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
McDaniel’s reelection means that Trump, who leaves the White House in less than two weeks, will have an ally steering the RNC.
Pointing to the 2022 midterms, McDaniel said, to big applause, "We have a lot of hard work to do to take back the Senate and the House in 2022, but I am mad and I’m not going to let socialism rule this country and I’m going to work with every single one of you to make sure we squash it and we take back the House and take back the Senate."
"So Democrats, get ready, buckle your seatbelts. We’re coming," she emphasized.
The GOP lost its Senate majority this week, after the Democrats swept Georgia’s twin Senate runoff elections. The chamber will be split 50-50 between the two parties, but the Democrats will hold a razor-thin majority starting on Jan. 20 as incoming Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the tie breaking vote in the chamber.
PRO-GOP GROUP TARGETS 21 'VULNERABLE' HOUSE DEMOCRATS IN FIRST ADS OF 2022 MIDTERMS
In the House, Republicans gained roughly a dozen seats in November’s elections. The pickups shrank the once large Democratic majority in the chamber to 222-211, with two seats currently vacant. The party of the incumbent president has lost, on average, approximately 25 House seats in the midterms elections, so the Republicans will be looking to regain the majority in the chamber, which they lost in the 2018 midterms.
McDaniel touted the party’s accomplishments in the 2020 cycle, saying, "We raised the most money ever in the history of our party. We coalesced around one platform to drive small dollar donations by launching Win Red. Even in its infancy, Win Red has proven successful beyond our wildest dreams. We raised more than $2 billion in just a year and a half with Win Red."
And she highlighted that the RNC "built the biggest, largest political infrastructure ever, talking to more voters - 182 million of them – than any other campaign in history and our data driven ground game turned out millions more Republicans than ever and it set the standard by which future campaigns will be judged. One of the things I am most proud of is how we stepped up to engage minority communities and expand our party this election cycle."
McDaniel noted that "the yearslong investment we made was a big part of the reason President Trump earned the highest share of minority votes for a Republican in 60 years. Over a quarter of his support in this election came from non-white voters."
And she praised Trump, saying that "there is no doubt that he has redrawn the political map for our party and proved that we can compete and win in non-traditionally Republican communities."
Supporters of President Trump are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
McDaniel once again heavily criticized the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, as they protested the formal move by a joint session of Congress to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory over the president. Five people – including a Capitol Hill police officer – were killed during the storming of the Capitol. The attack forced the building into lockdown and the House and Senate were suspended for six hours until the building was cleared of attackers.
"This committee condemned – rightly condemned – the violence that occurred in the strongest possible terms. Violence does not represent patriotism," McDaniel emphasized.
She also noted the "frightening bomb scare that we had at the RNC on the same exact day."
And McDaniel stressed that "we need this to stop. The violence needs to stop. And as the leader of the Republican Party, please don’t do this. We can do things peacefully and that is the path we need to take."
But unlike some other Republicans, McDaniel had no criticism of the president for encouraging supporters – at a rally he headlined on Wednesday morning – to march to the Capitol to protest the election certification.
Fox News' Phil Keating and Heather Lacy contributed to this story.
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