While there is a battle brewing to be the chair of the Republican National Committee, current chair Ronna Romney McDaniel is not to blame for disappointing GOP results in the midterms, according to former RNC chair and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus on Newsmax.
"I was chair of the RNC, and I would say that Ronna put what we've built and she built it even bigger," Priebus, who was succeeded by McDaniel when he won the White House, told Tuesday's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"There's a lot of factors that go into winning and losing presidential campaigns. I cannot imagine that people believe that the reason we didn't win a race as good as we should have in '22 is because of, you know, problems at the RNC.
"I would have to say that it was a lot of other things going on around the country that probably disappointed a lot of you."
The RNC does not decide elections, but merely supports the candidates and keeps the engine of the party apparatus running in top condition, Priebus told Van Susteren.
"It really is the job of a mechanic to really do this job," he said. "And the other thing I would say is it's also the job of the RNC that if, you know, if it's a close election and you want to be able to win by a field goal, that the RNC and the Republican Party should be able to get you over the finish line."
The RNC is also key in churning data, party registrations, and voting bases, Priebus added.
"What does matter is that you've got good mechanics that when you identify voters you know how to turn them out, and you have an absentee ballot, early vote program that is targeted and is smart and intelligent, and that you have the information about individuals so that you can communicate to them in a way that's different than if you didn't have the information," Priebus said. "So, you know, all those things do matter, and all those things — the candidate, the RNC, the money, the environment — all of that together creates the campaign, and the outcomes of those things are hard to predict."
Priebus also spoke about President Joe Biden's self-serving desire to have South Carolina launch the 2024 presidential primary, noting the GOP is likely to keep Iowa and New Hampshire running 1-2 with or without the Democrats making a change.
"This is all orchestrated by Joe Biden," Priebus concluded. "It's pretty clear to me that he's running. You cannot pull this kind of rule change off, Greta, unless you had the intention to run, because it's a big lift: You tick people off and you wouldn't do it if you weren't running."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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