Ronna McDaniel, the outgoing chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, stepped down from her position on Friday — but not before she gave her party a warning about future elections.
In her farewell address, McDaniel argued that Republicans had frequently been caught flatfooted on the topic of abortion rights, ever since the United States Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022.
"We cannot put our heads in the sand and ignore abortion and the Dobbs decision," McDaniel stated. "Many of our candidates chose to ignore this issue and not talk about it. And the RNC was ... urging candidates to talk about this issue head-on. Go figure -- I'm a suburban mom, I might have some opinions on this issue."
McDaniel then highlighted a memo she wrote in 2022 arguing Republicans must make their opposition to abortion qualified by saying certain exceptions should exist for cases such as rape and incest.
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"Too many candidates, and specifically their consultants, scoffed at this advice and ended up paying the price on election day," she said. "In 2022, candidates mattered. Candidates always matter. But the candidates who won were able to articulate a message on abortion and also attract and win swing and independent voters."
McDaniel then hammered home this point by saying that Republicans "can't win just by speaking to an echo chamber of Republicans."
"We don't win if we only talk to each other," she emphasized. "We have to go out and talk to independent and swing voters and sell them on our vision for this country."
The 2022 midterm elections featured multiple Trump-backed candidates whose appeal was apparently limited by their inability to reach beyond right-wing media to appeal to more voters.
This was perhaps best illustrated by New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc, who seemingly bought into a hoax about schools in his state letting children use litter boxes.
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