The Republican National Committee is launching a review of the GOP’s performance in the 2022 midterms and bringing on an outside group of advisers to help chart strategy for future elections.
The move comes a couple of weeks after a lackluster performance by Republicans in the midterm elections. The GOP failed to win a Senate majority, secured only a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and lost key gubernatorial races and control of legislative chambers in several states — disappointing Republican expectations for a “red wave” election.
The review of the national party’s performance during the 2022 cycle will be headed up by a team of current RNC members and led by Henry Barbour — a longtime RNC committeeman from Mississippi and nephew of former RNC chair Haley Barbour — and RNC committeewoman from California Harmeet Dhillon. The group is expected to report their findings during the first six months of next year.
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Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel headlines the New Hampshire GOP’s unity breakfast, on Sept. 15, 2022 in Concord, New Hampshire.
(Fox News)
We need to look at what worked and what didn’t work in the ’22 cycle and learn the right lessons to put us in the best position to win in ’24,” Barbour told Fox News.
“We’re going to have honest and thorough report,” added Barbour, who co-authored the GOP autopsy following the 2012 election. “Our objective is about winning elections. That’s what political parties have to be about.”
The RNC is also assembling what it is calling a “Republican Party Advisory Council” to help advise on strategy for the national party going forward. The group will meet regularly with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
“As we assess the midterms and plan for 2024, we are gathering a diverse range of respected leaders in our movement to join together and help chart a winning course in the years to come,” McDaniel noted in a statement. “I am thrilled that this talented group of Republicans will be shoulder to shoulder with us as we work to grow our party, hold Democrats accountable, and elect Republicans.”
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The group includes veteran GOP pollster and Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway, who served as campaign manager on former President Trump’s 2016 campaign and later as a top political adviser in the Trump White House.
“The Republican Party stands for freedom, fairness, security, opportunity, prosperity and individual liberty,” Conway said in a statement. “Ensuring that voters, candidates and Americans of all backgrounds know this and can communicate it in an affable, accessible, actionable manner is the key to growing a party that under Chairwoman McDaniel’s leadership has increased support among key stakeholders. This means finishing our sentences, offering specifics and solutions, and converting the double-digit trust the GOP has earned on key issues into wins at the ballot box.”
Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway speaks with Fox News Digital at the America First Agenda Summit in Washington, D.C.
(Tyler Olson and Haris Alic/Fox News)
Among the others serving on the new advisory group are longtime evangelical leader Tony Perkins, Sen.-elect Katie Britt of Alabama, Reps.-elect Monica De La Cruz of Texas and John James, of Michigan, as well as Blake Masters, the GOP Senate nominee in Arizona who narrowly lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.
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The launch of the internal RNC review and the outside advisory group comes as McDaniel seeks a fourth two-year term steering the national party committee, which is unprecedented in the GOP’s modern-day history. However, as the party licks its wounds from the midterms, McDaniel is facing potential challenges to her leadership. The most serious of the possible challenges comes from Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, who came close to defeating Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in the heavily blue Empire State.
Among the others considering challenges is South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
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All 168 RNC committee members will vote for the new chair when they hold their annual winter meeting, which will take place in southern California in January.
News of the RNC 2022 election review was first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News.