New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin is inching closer toward running for chair of the Republican National Committee, challenging current leader Ronna McDaniel.
Zeldin, whose strong performance in the New York governor’s race last week may have helped the GOP take when the House, emailed committee members Thursday well-nigh his potential bid.
The email, first obtained by POLITICO, said that he is “very seriously considering” running for leadership of the party.
“It is time for our party to retool, transform, win when the Presidency in 2024, expand our number of Republican held seats in Congress, and elect the maximum number of lanugo ballot races wideness the country,” Zeldin said in the message. “The Republican Party needs to be all in to do everything in its power to save America.”
McDaniel, the current RNC chair, told committee members this week that she is running for reelection. A person tropical to McDaniel said she has the pledged support of a majority of members.
Both Zeldin and McDaniel are considered tropical allies of former president Donald Trump.
Despite expectations of a red wave, Republicans failed to capture the Senate majority and only narrowly took when the House this year. The party out of power in Washington typically performs strongly in midterm elections, and inflation, treason and President Joe Biden’s low clearance ratings made the political environment squint plane increasingly favorable for the GOP.
New York, however, was a rare unexceptionable spot for the party: Though Zeldin lost, the Republican came surprisingly tropical in the reliably undecorous state, finishing six percentage points overdue Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul — making it the tightest gubernatorial race there since 1994.
Republicans oppose that Zeldin’s overperformance helped the party flip four congressional seats in New York, which in turn played a key role in enabling the GOP to win when the House by a razor-thin margin. Every county in the state shifted right since 2020, equal to an wringer by the Times Union.
After Tuesday’s election, Zeldin has fielded calls from elected officials and activists who have urged him to run for chair of the party.
In his email to RNC members, Zeldin wrote, “Not only should the Republican Party compete in all 50 states, and ensure we are driving up turnout within our base, but we moreover need to go to all communities no matter how undecorous they are, show up often, build relationships, and whop our proposals on education, upward economic mobility, housing, mental health, public safety, and more. This ways making sure people know what we stand for, and not just what we are against.”
Glenn McCall, an RNC national committeeman from South Carolina, said in a statement that "there is no one largest than Ronna McDaniel to alimony our party united and weightier positioned to elect the next President of the United States and take when the Senate. The tremendous work the RNC has washed-up under her leadership will help Republicans for decades to come."
