Mike Lindell Officially Announces Bid for RNC Chair

Mike Lindell speaks in Casper, Wyo., on May 28, 2022. Chet Strange/Getty Images

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell repeated his claims that the GOP has lost the trust of its supporters and donors while announcing the launch of his campaign for the Republican National Committee (RNC) chairmanship on Tuesday.

Lindell, who declared his candidacy on Dec. 9, is attempting to unseat incumbent RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who is seeking a fourth term in office.

“The RNC’s leadership’s strategy of ‘business as usual’ has been a disaster not only for the Party but even more importantly it has been disaster for the Country as Democrats pursue their woke socialist agenda,” Lindell said in an email obtained by Just The News.

Lindell, a former President Donald Trump loyalist, noted there had been three “failed election cycles” for Republicans under McDaniel.

In a statement last week, Lindell said he had been approached by GOP donors who he claimed had said they weren’t going to give any more money to the RNC.

“When you have 3 F’s in a row, you don’t get elected!” Lindell said.

The businessman has been critical of McDaniel for what he’s described as a lack of support for Trump and for McDaniel raising funds from donors on the promise of looking into the 2020 election, the results of which Trump disputed.

“She fundraised on that promise. She broke that promise. The RNC did not do anything to fix our elections and they cherry picked their candidates and would not back the people’s choice,” he said.

“This is a critical time for the RNC. The Donors need a return on their investment and so does the country. I have done my due diligence and can’t figure out why my opponent would even consider running again.”

Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, at the CPAC convention in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 28, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

McDaniel’s Reelection Bid

Despite a poor midterm election for Republicans, McDaniel, who has served as RNC head since 2017, has stated her intention to seek another term.

She has touted Republicans winning a slim majority in the House of Representatives and has been endorsed by over 100 members who signed a letter in November, meaning she has enough votes to win.

McDaniel, the niece of former Trump opponent Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has twice voted to impeach him, has also faced stiff criticism within the party.

On Dec. 9, the Arizona GOP called on McDaniel to resign shortly after Republican lawmakers failed to win control of the Senate.

The state branch of the party pointed to the RNC leader’s alleged failure to support the election of Republicans across the country, among other issues, as reasoning for her to step down.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who had considered running for the GOP leadership position but changed his mind, also argued that McDaniel should “step aside.”

“When the chairwoman came into this position, we had the White House, the House, and the Senate,” Zeldin told Fox News last week. “Between 2018 and 2020, that was all lost. The House barely recovered in 2022 with what should have been a national Red Wave.”

Zeldin echoed Lindell, contending that “the status quo should not be acceptable.”

“I think the party needs to retool; the party needs to reform. There’s a lot that we should be doing better, from messaging to the fundraising, to the expenditure side, to how we election, do election tactics, and electioneering,” he added. “There is a lot of feedback from across the country where there is a desire for fresh blood, for new leadership.”

Lee Zeldin lost his gubernatorial race against Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York.

McDaniel has said she was “humbled” to earn support for her reelection bid by the 101 GOP members who signed a letter in November.

She said she was looking forward to “working hard on behalf of the grassroots, in every state and territory, to grow our Party and invest in the critical infrastructure needed to keep the House, take back the Senate, and retire [President] Joe Biden in 2024.”

McDaniel also faces another opponent, lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, who is running with the support of RNC member Morton Blackwell.

Dhillon told Fox News that she was seeking election because “Republicans are tired of losing, and I think that we really need to radically reshape our leadership in order to win. And we can’t keep running elections like we did in the 90s and the 2000s.”

The Epoch Times contacted McDaniel for comment.