Ronna Romney McDaniel, the second woman ever to chair the Republican National Committee, said she is “committed to working for a unified and inclusive Republican Party." | AP Photo Ronna Romney McDaniel tapped to be new RNC chair

The Republican National Committee has officially found its replacement for outgoing chairman Reince Priebus, electing Ronna Romney McDaniel to steer the party as President-elect Donald Trump arrives in the White House.

McDaniel was the state chairman for the Michigan Republican party and helped Trump secure a crucial victory in the typically blue state. She was also the chairwoman for the Michigan delegation at the Republican National Convention last summer.


McDaniel is the niece of 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a vociferous opponent of Trump throughout the presidential election who was nonetheless given heavy consideration to join the incoming administration as secretary of state.

"I am a mom from Michigan. I am an outsider. And I am here to make Donald Trump and Republicans everywhere successful,” McDaniel said at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting on Thursday.

Priebus, the man she will follow as chairman, is leaving the RNC to become Trump’s White House chief of staff.

McDaniel, the second woman ever to chair the Republican National Committee, said she is “committed to working for a unified and inclusive Republican Party” and intends to push back against the notion that the Democratic Party is the party of women.

She highlighted the strong position in which the party she inherits sits: In control of the White House, both houses of Congress, 33 governor’s mansions and both legislative chambers in 32 states. She pledged to keep alive the GOP’s recent hot streak.

“As President-Elect Trump has directed us to do, we are going to keep winning,” McDaniel said. "America has two parties: Theirs, the elite, coastal, redistributionist Party of the status quo. And ours the national, opportunity for everyone, party of change.”