The former president was recognized as the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee this week.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday voted to recognize former President Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee for president, coming after he secured a commanding lead after the Super Tuesday contests.
Ronna McDaniel presided over the RNC vote in her final appearance as the committee’s chairwoman on Friday. She announced last month that she would step down from the role on March 8.
The Republican National Committee votes to officially recognize Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
— The Recount (@therecount) March 8, 2024
Ronna McDaniel presided over the meeting in her final appearance as chairwoman. pic.twitter.com/g3RVFG3Pv9
She recognized the “overwhelming success” of the former president’s campaign and how he has secured more than 90 percent of Republican delegates so far. After asking the room to name President Trump as the presumptive nominee, the audience agreed.
But before the RNC meeting in Houston, the organization issued a statement on March 6, or a day after Super Tuesday, that it formally recognized him as the GOP nominee for 2024.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump on his huge primary victory!” Ms. McDaniel said in the statement. “I’d also like to congratulate Nikki Haley for running a hard-fought campaign and becoming the first woman to win a Republican presidential contest.”
It came after then-presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced she was dropping out of the Republican race after winning only one state on Super Tuesday. President Trump won the remaining 14 states and all the other states before the contest.
Earlier this year, the former president criticized the idea of being named the presumptive nominee after reports suggested that the RNC would do so before the Super Tuesday contests and while Ms. Haley was still in the race.
He wrote on Truth Social in January that he appreciated the idea, but “for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the ‘Old Fashioned’ way, and finish the process off AT THE BALLOT BOX.”
Also Friday, the RNC voted to name Trump-endorsed officials to head the organization. Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Republican, was elected the party’s new national chairman in a vote Friday morning in Houston, and Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, was voted in as co-chair.
