by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The Republican National Committee elected Joe Gruters, a Florida state senator and long-time ally of President Donald Trump, as its new chairman Friday.
Gruters, who was the only candidate for the leadership post and was endorsed by Trump, stepped down as RNC treasurer, a spot then filled by Jennifer Saul-Rich of New York.
Gruters succeeds Michael Whatley, who is leaving the chairmanship to run for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, also with Trump’s support.
Whatley raised the specter of a repeat of the Trump impeachments under Democrats should Republicans fail to keep control of Congress after next year’s mid-term elections.
“We have a choice: Two more years of a golden age or two more years of impeachment,” he said at the party’s summer meeting, held in a ballroom at the Westin in downtown Atlanta.
Gruters is a former chairman of the Florida state GOP and now chairs two committees in the Florida Senate — Banking and Insurance, and Fiscal Policy. He said his party has a financial head start on the next elections, with an $84 million war chest, which he said is more than five times what Democrats have on hand.
He also said his party has many factions to unite, adding that his priority will be election integrity and voter registration.
“Together, we will expand our Republican majority and deliver sweeping victories that will shape America for generations to come,” he said, closing the meeting by saying the GOP is Trump’s party and “we’re going to do everything humanly possible to help him advance his agenda and make sure that he’s successful and he has a full, full four-year term.”
The Democratic National Committee also elected a new chairman this year. Ken Martin, who headed the Democratic Party in Minnesota, was chosen in February to lead the Democrats’ efforts to recapture at least one of the legislative chambers in Congress in 2026.
