California Republican hopes to oust the GOP’s national leader

Mounting frustration over GOP electoral losses has incited a contentious leadership battle that pits a prominent California Republican against the party’s national leader.

The effort by San Francisco attorney Harmeet Dhillon, whose clients include former President Donald Trump, to oust Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel will be decided at a party meeting in Dana Point that began Wednesday.

Both women are ardent, vocal Trump supporters — a reflection of the grip the former president still has on the party more than two years after losing the White House. They have both pledged to remain neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential primary if elected.

McDaniel, the niece of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, is widely viewed as having the edge in the race. But Dhillon, a longtime state party leader, has received the support of prominent conservatives, including Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, in a contest that has been laced with what appeared to be calculated attacks about Dhillon’s Sikh faith and McDaniel’s role in the party’s subpar performance in recent elections.

Some committee members are concerned that the increasingly ugly infighting could affect the party’s prospects, and hope McDaniel and Dhillon can make peace, regardless of the outcome.

“They’ve both got to talk and agree that whoever wins, the other one’s going to say the right things and do the right things,” said Mississippi committee member Henry Barbour, the nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Henry Barbour declined to say who he will vote for in the contest. “If we at the RNC can’t come together, how can we expect voters to come together?”

A surprise victory by Dhillon also would breathe life into a moribund California Republican Party that in recent decades has dwindled into political irrelevance, and would follow closely behind Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy’s narrow victory to become speaker of the House. The ascension of California Republicans to the pinnacle of the national political universe would go a long way toward salving the sting of the party’s failure to win any statewide election since 2006.

“Harmeet has more of a shot than what the public expectations are,” said Tim Miller, a former advisor to GOP presidential candidates who worked at the RNC but left the party in 2020. “The smart money is on Ronna . ... The RNC chairman’s race is very inside baseball. Ronna knows all these people, she’s been working the inside game for years, which is a huge advantage. But Harmeet has tapped into legitimate frustration with the RNC.”

But the task ahead for the next RNC chair, who will lead the party during the 2024 presidential election, will not be an easy one. Republican activists and donors are exasperated by Democrats’ success in the 2018 midterm election, the loss of the White House in 2020 and their inability to take control of the Senate and narrow win in Congress last year, when most analysts predicted a red wave.

Dhillon said these losses, as well as McDaniel’s decision to seek an unprecedented fourth term, prompted her bid to lead the party. To help rebound, the Republican Party must promote the use of mail ballots, counter Democratic efforts to boost weak candidates in GOP primaries and provide smarter messaging to young and minority voters.

“There are a lot of changes that need to be made for us to be in fighting shape to win in ‘24,” Dhillon said. “I’m tired of Republicans losing elections.”

Born in India, Dhillon, 54, and her family immigrated to Britain and then to New York City before settling in rural North Carolina. Her parents registered as Republicans after they became naturalized citizens, in part because of the disdain her father, an orthopedic surgeon, had for trial lawyers because of medical malpractice lawsuits. They were also driven by persecution of Sikhs in India, which then-Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., had spoken out against. Dhillon’s parents hosted fundraisers for Helms.

After graduating from law school, Dhillon eventually settled in San Francisco. She became active in Bay Area politics after hosting debate watch parties for President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004 and was elected vice chair of the state GOP in 2013. Three years later, she was elected one of California’s three representatives on the Republican National Committee, on which she has served ever since.