EXCLUSIVE: RNC Chief Passes the Torch As He Kicks Off Senate Run

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley reflected on his tenure in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller as he passes the torch and launches his run for Senate in North Carolina.

Whatley announced on July 31 that he will be stepping down as RNC chairman and running for Republican North Carolina Sen. Tom Tillis’ seat. The North Carolinian was tapped to lead the GOP by President Donald Trump early in 2024 after Ronna McDaniel stepped down. Whatley inherited a party with little cash on hand and an election integrity program in need of a boost. He leaves the party with an expansive election integrity effort and with $80 million cash on hand – more than 5 times more than the Democrats.

“We’re fighting every day right now to rebuild the economy, to restore our borders, to make sure that America is respected around the world again,” Whatley told the Caller.

“That’s an agenda that’s very popular with the American people. That’s why the Republican Party is doing so strong from a mechanical standpoint. The RNC itself is on a very strong financial footing,” he continued. 

When Whatley assumed leadership at the RNC, his focus became the party’s election integrity work. Under his leadership, the RNC filed more than 100 lawsuits across 20 states in the 2024 election cycle, according to the party website. The party recruited 230,000 volunteers and 6,500 lawyers who were on the ground on election day to help address election issues, Whatley previously told the Caller.

That focus on election integrity is expected to continue past Whatley’s tenure, he told the Caller, pointing to his successor, Florida State Sen. Joe Gruters’ experience in the realm.

“When we go back to the 2020 election cycle, there were really three states that I felt had an election integrity program that really succeeded. They were Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. And I put together that North Carolina program. Joe put together the Florida program,” Whatley told the Caller. 

“He is fundamentally committed to the mission of getting out the vote and protecting the ballot and making sure that every single dollar that the RNC raises and spends is going to be spent on winning and making sure that we are there to support all of our candidates across the country,” he added. 

At the end of July, with the rumors of Whatley’s Senate campaign swirling, the RNC chairman was still spearheading the party’s election integrity efforts with the 2026 midterms in sight. He even attended a recent poll watcher training in Virginia where he spoke to a room of about 50 Virginians looking to get involved in the movement. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Revs Up Election Integrity Efforts With Midterms Fast Approaching)

As Whatley transitions to the campaign trail, the chairman told the Caller he had initially intended to stay at his post through the election cycle, like he had promised Trump. But then the president called.

“…the president did call, and we had a conversation where he encouraged me to run for the race. And so I made the decision to go ahead and step into it,” Whatley told the Caller.

Whatley intends to bring the RNC message to the state of North Carolina on the campaign trail.

“The reason that I want to run in North Carolina is really for the same things that we were pushing for at the RNC, I want to fight for every community. I want to fight for every family. And I want to make sure that North Carolina is going to have a strong economy, that we’re going to be pushing economic policies that are going to create jobs and raise wages,” he said. 

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley gavels in the session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 18, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Delegates, politicians, and the Republican faithful are in Milwaukee for the annual convention, concluding with former President Donald Trump accepting his party’s presidential nomination. The RNC takes place from July 15-18. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Whatley also gave Gruters, who has served as treasurer of the RNC, credit for the financial state of the party.

“He was the co-chair of the Florida campaign, along with Susie Wiles back in 2016 and has been one of the president’s steadfast allies on the committee,” Whatley explained. “Over the last year, he has made sure that the stewardship that we’ve had in terms of fundraising and our financial shape — which has never been better. So he’s an absolutely perfect pick. I think he’s going to be a very strong chair.”

In Whatley’s final days as RNC chair, Politico reported that the Republican Party was thriving financially. With $80 million in cash on hand as of August 18th, the RNC has ten times more than it did in February 2024 (one month before Whatley took over). Just over a year ago, the RNC was the brokest it had been in nearly a decade.

The year or so that Whatley spent at the RNC will be memorable to the North Carolinian, who emphasized to the Caller how proud he is of the way the party has grown.

“I have really loved serving as the chair of the RNC. It has been an incredible honor that President Trump asked me to step up and take over the Committee during the ’24 election cycle. I am enormously proud of the work that this committee has done, not just myself, but all of the members of the committee, and to be able to help us win in that ’24 election cycle,” Whatley told the Caller.

“I think very importantly, we did it the right way. I think that we focused 100% of our time and effort on projects and programs that were going to allow us to win, to get out the vote and protect the ballot. I think that that is a key reason that we were able to help the president, to help our congressional Republicans and senators,” he added.