Tiana Lowe has a good piece in the Washington Examiner on why it’s time for the Republican National Committee to ditch Ronna McDaniel as chairwoman and replace her with someone with a proven record of success, like Lee Zeldin.
McDaniel has been a poor party leader. On her watch, the GOP has gone from unified control of the House, Senate, and the White House to barely commanding a House majority after an election in which Republicans were widely expected to make significant gains in line with historical averages for midterm years. McDaniel is obviously not entirely at fault. Poor election results have many causes. But she has been in charge as the party has lost power in three consecutive cycles and has gone out of her way to accommodate Donald Trump, who has done nothing but torpedo GOP prospects.
On the other hand, Zeldin is a proven leader who has shown himself willing to expend political capital to elevate fellow Republicans. He abandoned a safe House seat, representing a district on New York’s Long Island, to run for governor against reality-denying Kathy Hochul in a deep-blue state. His candidacy enabled GOP congressional hopefuls to ride his coattails and flip four seats in New York, including Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Sean Patrick Maloney’s. Had it not been for Zeldin, there may not have been a Republican majority in the 118th Congress. Making him RNC chairman would be a just reward.
Lowe makes clear that Zeldin isn’t perfect; he voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, for example. But he’s a superior alternative to McDaniel.