New Trump-backed Republican party leadership pushes out officials, source says

[March 12, 2024]  By Alexandra Ulmer and Costas Pitas
 
(Reuters) -The recently elected leadership of the Republican National Committee (RNC), backed by former President Donald Trump, has begun the process of pushing out 60 officials at the organization, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Lara Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 22, 2024. REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo

RNC members voted last week to appoint North Carolina Republican Party head Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, Trump's daughter-in-law, as chair and co-chair of the organization that will play a key role in marshaling voters and funds for the Nov. 5 general elections.

The 60 positions are being eliminated to ensure the RNC and Trump's campaign are streamlined and to avoid duplication, according to the source.

Politico reported the news earlier and said that staffers would be let go in the political, communications and data departments.

The Republican National Committee appeared to have at least 208 people on its payroll in January, according to the group's Feb. 20 monthly filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Not since President Ronald Reagan's daughter Maureen Reagan was RNC co-chair in the 1980s has a family member of a president or nominee served in such a position of power.

One of the new leadership's most pressing tasks is money.

After recording its lowest fundraising year in 2023 in a decade, the RNC had less than $9 million in the bank at the end of January, a little more than a third of the Democratic National Committee's $24 million, federal filings show.

(Writing by Costas Pitas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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