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- Mike Lindell says he’s got the support to derail RNC chair Ronna McDaniel’s re-election.
- Lindell is running a dark horse campaign in a three-way race with McDaniel and lawyer Harmeet Dhillon.
- Lindell told Insider he’s secured the votes to make sure McDaniel won’t have an outright win.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he’s secured enough support to derail longtime foe Ronna McDaniel’s re-election bid to lead the Republican National Committee.
Speaking to Insider on Monday night, Lindell said he’s “locked in” the commitments he needs to make sure McDaniel will not have an outright win. The leadership of the RNC will be decided in a ballot during the committee’s winter meeting this month.
“It’ll be like, what you’ve just seen happening in our Congress here, you know. There’s gonna be multiple votes, and there’s a three-way race, and we all stay in until somebody gets to 85,” Lindell told Insider, referencing the majority votes needed from 168 voting members of the RNC.
“I have plenty of states now. I believe she’s well under 85 — with my math, I’d say somewhere around 70 to 75,” Lindell said of McDaniel.
Lindell acknowledged that the remaining votes might be divided between him and attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who is also challenging McDaniel for the top job at the RNC.
As for Lindell’s chances of actually clinching the position, it is unclear how much support he has. He told Insider that he has called “a third” of the 168 RNC members since he announced his candidacy in November.
“And when you talk to some — sometimes I talk for three to four hours to one person,” Lindell told Insider on Monday. “They bring up problems and I say, here’s how I’m going to solve them: whether it’s a new communications structure within the RNC, and whether it’s restructuring the fundraisers.”
“There’s still a lot of calls I have to make,” Lindell added.
Alabama and Texas GOPs turn against McDaniel
Lindell might be right about the tide turning against McDaniel. On Monday, NBC reported that the Alabama GOP has declared its position against McDaniel.
“We believe that RNC leadership needs a new vision for future elections,” the committee’s statement read.
The committee added that it cannot “support or endorse” McDaniel, and declared its “vote of no-confidence in her leadership.”
“We encourage all RNC members across the country to support new leadership at the RNC Winter Meeting,” the committee wrote in its statement.
The Texas GOP also unanimously voted in December for a new RNC leader.
The strongest challenger to McDaniel, however, appears to be Dhillon, rather than Lindell. CNN reported in December that Dhillon is putting up a tough fight. The media outlet spoke to an unnamed RNC member, who described the race as being “a bare-knuckle fight” between Dhillon and McDaniel.
It is worth noting that McDaniel was in November endorsed by a majority of the RNC’s voting members — 101 in total — who signed on to a letter endorsing her re-election, The Hill reported.
Dhillon and a representative for McDaniel did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
