During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Republican National Committee chairperson Ronna McDaniel was forced to play defense as host Dana Bash peppered her with the fact that her party is struggling with voters which has led to questions about her leadership.
Noting that GOP presidential nomination candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called for her to step aside at last week's GOP debate, and then following up with questions about conservative losses at the ballot box on the abortion issue, Bash pressed McDaniel to admit that she and her party have a big problem on their hands.
McDaniel first took a shot at Ramaswamy, who is fading in the polls by stating, "Last I checked I wasn't running for president. He's at 4 percent. He's looking for headlines. I think what Republicans really want to hear from our candidates right now, in terms of headlines, is how are we going to take on Joe Biden, the border, crime, fentanyl, restore our kids' education, what's happening with Israel."
Undeterred, Bash reminded the RNC head, "Personal attacks against you aside, if you look at what Republicans have dealt with over the last few years; Republicans lost the White House in 2020, did not win the Senate back in 2022. The House has a Republican majority, but it's so narrow they can barely govern. On Tuesday, on the state level, Republicans lost big in Virginia and in Kentucky. Are Republicans right to be frustrated?"
"I understand being frustrated, of course we want to win," McDaniel protested. "I look at the RNC though and I'm proud of what we're doing."
"We're a turnout machine, we don't do the messaging, the candidates do with their pollsters and their campaigns," she claimed. "But I look at our minority outreach, I look at the growth with Hispanic and Asian voters. I look at 2022, Republicans won the popular vote, we turned out 4 million more voters and we would have won the Electoral College."
"The RNC builds the roads, all the candidates drive on it. You need a good candidate and road to get to your destination," she offered.
Watch below or at the link.
CNN 11 12 2023 09 35 27youtu.be
