Ronna Romney McDaniel has most recently served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. | AP Photo Trump announces McDaniel as his pick for RNC

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel is his choice to succeed incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus as chair of the Republican National Committee.

McDaniel, the niece of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and a Priebus ally, is expected to take on the role next month, when the 168 members of the RNC hold a leadership election during the committee’s winter meeting in Washington, D.C. Until that time, McDaniel will hold the title of deputy chair.


She will become the first female to hold the RNC chairmanship since the 1970s, when Mary Louise Smith oversaw the committee.

“I’m excited to have a highly effective leader in Ronna McDaniel as RNC deputy chair and I look forward to her serving as the Party’s chairman in 2017,” Trump said. “Ronna has been extremely loyal to our movement and her efforts were critical to our tremendous victory in Michigan, and I know she will bring the same passion to the Republican National Committee.”

Trump also announced that Republican strategist Bob Paduchik, who led his campaign in Ohio, was his choice to serve as RNC co-chair.

The announcement capped weeks of jockeying, speculation, and behind-the-scenes intrigue as to who would lead the committee. It culminated in a proxy fight pitting Priebus, a longtime party insider who favored the establishment-minded McDaniel, against Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, a populist firebrand who backed Georgia-based GOP operative Nick Ayers. Unlike McDaniel, a current member of the RNC, Ayers is a committee outsider.

Trump ultimately settled on McDaniel, who as head of the Michigan Republican Party helped him capture an industrial Midwest state that had voted Democratic in recent presidential elections. Last Friday, before a rally in Grand Rapids, Trump huddled with McDaniel, 43, backstage and told her he looked forward to working with her.

But Trump would also hand a consolation prize of sorts to the conservative advisers who backed Ayers, a group that included Bannon, former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, and mega-donor Rebekah Mercer. Rather than pick an establishment-minded co-chair, he tapped Paduchik, a fierce Trump defender and loyalist.

In a statement, Bannon signaled his support for the McDaniel-Paduchik co-chairmanship. “Ronna and Bob were completely committed to President-elect’s Trump’s success in this campaign, and they are going to keep up the enthusiasm for our America First agenda as they fulfill the RNC’s mission of helping our Republican candidates to victory at all levels,” he said.

Over the course of the search process, other candidates were considered. They included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Washington lobbyist David Urban. Both were told last week that they would not get the post.

Priebus, who has been at work for the last month on Trump’s transition, is departing after nearly six years on the job.

