Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel put an end to rumors that former President Donald Trump has threatened to leave the party, calling him a “big part” of their 2022 victory plan.
“President Trump clearly has not left the party,” said McDaniel said on Thursday. “If he left the party, we would lose. If he left the party, Republicans would lose.”
The issue flashed anew because ABC’s Jonathan Karl claimed in his new book that Trump made the threat. But while the former president has endorsed some challengers to Republican incumbents he doesn’t like, he stays in the GOP lane.
“He has built our party, he has added a new base, we have become a working-class party,” McDaniel told reporters at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Christian Science Monitor Thursday morning.
She said Trump has also tried to squash rumors he wants to create his own party.
“He’s been on the field helping elect Republicans,” McDaniel said, highlighting this month’s elections.
“The president stayed in the party, this is a nonissue, and we’re going to have him in the party,” she added.
Polls show Trump remains a key part of the GOP base and a big driver of Republican and conservative voters in elections. What’s more, his base added to the GOP numbers as they stuck with the party.
“I think there are certainly voters that came to the Republican Party because of Donald Trump. But they also turned out for Republican candidates last week. And he’s a big key to that. So it’s a whole party. And they recognize that they want to tackle energy independence, they don’t want an open border, they want freedom to have a voice in their kid’s school without being called domestic terrorists. I mean, if you look at the issues, it’s the Republican Party, but Trump is a big factor in that, and he’s going to be critical to us winning in the midterms,” she said.
McDaniel said that in the 2022 midterm elections, similar to the Virginia gubernatorial race, the most important issue is how the local candidates run and present themselves to voters. But Trump’s backing is also a force.
“Trump’s going to be critical in turning out voters in the midterms. And he’s a huge factor in our party. If you look at his popularity, if you look at the polls, they’re going to be looking to him, and there’s going to be other leaders in our party too, that are going to help. But it’s going to come down to the candidate connecting with the voter on the issues,” she said.
