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Earlier this year, three North Carolinians stood at the center of the Republican Party’s push for victory this November, but now they’re in the midst of the party’s struggles.
In March, Lara Trump, a Wilmington native and daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, was installed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) after Trump forced out former chair Ronna Romney McDaniel.
Michael Whatley, the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, was hand-picked by Trump to be the party’s national co-chair. Trump was impressed by Republican wins in North Carolina and Whatley’s support for his false claims of a stolen 2020 election.
Also a key national player is North Carolina congressman Richard Hudson. As chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) he is in charge of keeping the GOP’s House majority.
But these days, leading the Republican Party means following Trump. For Lara Trump, Whatley and Hudson, it’s proving a tough path.
In taking over the RNC, Lara Trump and Whatley fired dozens of staffers and hired proven Trump loyalists. They sent a clear message that the RNC would serve Trump’s campaign first, with the needs of down-ballot Republicans a distant second. Lara Trump pledged that “every single penny will go to the number one and the only job of the RNC — that is electing Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”
Not surprisingly, many Republican donors haven’t been eager to contribute to the RNC when it seems only to be a funnel to Trump. Better to give to him directly and get credit for it.
At the congressional level, Hudson’s fundraising is also trailing. In August, his committee brought in $12.3 million, well short of the Democrats’ $22.3 million haul, The Hill reported. One reason for the NRCC shortfall is that Trump has done little to support congressional Republicans. Kamala Harris, by contrast, recently transferred $10 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
But the missteps have been about more than money. The RNC has done little to build a ground game in battleground states or promote voter registration, despite what is expected to be a close election.
The Republicans’ door-to-door canvassing has been farmed out to contractors such as the Elon Musk-backed America PAC. But the Associated Press reported this week that “dozens of Republican officials, activists and operatives in Michigan, North Carolina and other battleground states say they have rarely or never witnessed the group’s canvassers.”
Instead of working to boost turnout, the RNC has actually stepped up legal efforts to suppress votes, an approach Whatley supported as state chairman. In North Carolina, the RNC has backed nuisance lawsuits against the State Board of Elections, one seeking to purge as many as 225,00 voters and another seeking to UNC-Chapel Hill students from using digital IDs as a voter identification.
Whatley led a state party that has produced extreme candidates who are now weighing against the chances of Trump and down-ballot Republicans in North Carolina. The most costly of those extremists is Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has drawn national attention for his incendiary statements and a CNN report revealing his alleged postings on a porn site message board more than a decade ago.
In a WRAL report, former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory blamed Whatley for the Robinson mess. He said Whatley “ignored many known flaws that many of us knew about [Robinson] and just assumed they’d be brushed over. But [Robinson’s campaign] has been a ticking time bomb for several years now.”
Now the two North Carolinians atop the Republican Party may preside as Trump loses the state, a key to his presidential bid. Hudson, burdened both by Trump’s lack of help and his erratic statements, may see Republicans lose the House.
Trump values loyalty over expertise and puts his own interests ahead of his party’s. The stumbles of Lara Trump and Whatley and Hudson’s struggle to raise funds tell the story of how that is working out.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.comThis story was originally published September 26, 2024, 7:22 AM.
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