In the wake of former President Trump’s wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he defeated his GOP opponent, Nikki Haley, by double digits, the calls grew louder for the former South Carolina governor to exit the race.
Among those appearing most frustrated by her insistence that the “race is far from over” was RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.
Appearing on Fox News Tuesday evening, McDaniel emphasized the general election is only 10 months away “and we can’t wait any longer to put our foot on the gas to beat the worst president…”
“I'm looking at the math and the path going forward, and I don’t see it for Nikki Haley,” McDaniel said. “I think she's run a great campaign, but I do think there's a message that's coming out from the voters which is very clear. We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump, and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden.”
With those remarks, it was no surprise that a draft resolution came out from Maryland’s RNC committeeman David Bossie that would declare the 45th president the “presumptive 2024 nominee.” But the former president quickly poured cold water on that idea, prompting Bossie to withdraw the resolution, which would have been voted on during an RNC meeting next week.
Confirming @thedispatch: RNC considering a resolution to declare Trump the “presumptive nominee” at next week’s winter meetings
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) January 25, 2024
We spoke to some RNC members who are pushing back
Full draft resolution attached
w/ @HenryJGomez pic.twitter.com/waznBPK9Tz
“While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, 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,” he said on Truth Social. “Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me!”
Haley’s campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas blasted the proposal.
"Who cares what the R.N.C. says? We'll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party's nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders," she told Axios.