On a sunny Friday morning in January 2015, Reince Priebus stood inside the main ballroom of an elegant Southern California resort wearing a conqueror’s smile. The 42-year-old Wisconsinite, a placid-looking lawyer, had earlier that morning been elected to a historic third term as chairman of the Republican National Committee. It was a formality; the GOP’s governing body, composed of a committeeman, a committeewoman, and a chairperson from each of the 50 states and six territories, was firmly under Priebus’s command. The vote had been nearly unanimous — 166 to 2 — and when the tally was read, Priebus had received an extended standing ovation inside the Hotel del Coronado.
Yet at this moment, he was reveling in a wholly different accomplishment.
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