Two Republican National Committee members from Tennessee endorse South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson in his bid to be the next RNC Chair: State GOP Chair Robin Smith and National Committeeman John Ryder. The bid of Chip Saltsman had been facing an uphill climb in recent weeks, and two endorsements of a rival from his home state suggests one more bump in the road.
By my count, this puts Dawson at 18 endorsements, giving him a bit more of a solid hold on second place, behind Mike Duncan with 25. An endorsement list, not including the Tennessee ones as of this posting, can be found here.
UPDATE: The third RNC member from Tennessee, Peggy Lambert, endorsed Ken Blackwell Sunday.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Duncan’s people say they’re up to 35, 36 if you count Duncan himself. The list after the jump:
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Mary Lou Ada
National Committeewoman, Northern Mariana Islands
Evie Axdahl
National Committeewoman, Minnesota
Bob Bennett
National Committeeman, Ohio
Rick Bennett
National Committeeman, Maine
Jim Burnett
National Committeeman, Arkansas
Donna Cain
National Committeewoman, Oregon
Ron Carey
State Chairman, Minnesota
Jo Ann Davidson
National Committeewoman, Ohio
Mark Ellis
State Chairman, Maine
Zori Fonalledas
National Committeewoman, Puerto Rico
Te’o Fuavai
National Committeeman, American Samoa
Gov. Luis Fortuno
National Committeeman, Puerto Rico
Donna Lou Gosney
National Committeeman, West Virginia
Blake Hall
National Committeeman, Idaho
Reta Hamilton
National Committeewoman, Arkansas
Betti Hill
National Committeewoman, Montana
Ron Kaufman
National Committeeman, Massachusetts
Jeff Kent
National Committeeman, Washington
Kris Kobach
State Chairman, Kansas
Willes K. Lee
State Chairman, Hawai’i
Carlos Mendez
State Chairman, Puerto Rico
Cindy Moyle
National Committeewoman, Idaho
Lilly Nunez
National Committeewoman, Colorado
Cindy Phillips
National Committeewoman, Mississippi
Amata Radewagen
National Committeewoman, American Samoa
Priscilla Rakestraw
National Committeewoman, Delaware
Jim Reed
National Committeeman, West Virginia
Steve Robertson
State Chairman, Kentucky
Gail Russell
National Committeewoman, Kentucky
Su’a Schuster
State Chairman, American Samoa
Laird Stabler III
National Committeeman, Delaware
Jan Staples
National Committeewoman, Maine
Ed Tenorio
State Chairman, Northern Mariana Islands
Mary Torres
National Committeewoman, Guam
Solomon Yue
National Committeeman, Oregon