RNC Chair Whatley Vows to Be ‘Tip of the Spear’ to Protect Trump as He Closes to Re-Election Victory

Members of the Republican National Committee re-elected Chairman Michael Manley to continue leading the National Party Committee on Friday in a no-doubt vote.

“This organization should be the tip of the spear. And as your chairman, I promise that this organization will be the tip of the spear to defend Donald Trump,” he said after the RNC’s annual vote. This year’s rally took place in the nation’s capital before President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Trump, who served as RNC general counsel and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party as a longtime ally of Trump and a key supporter of Trump’s campaign integrity efforts, called the former president last March for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He replaced longtime RNC chairwoman Rona McDaniel, whom Trump did not support.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the RNC’s winter meeting, Whatley said his work ahead of the 2025 elections and the 2026 midterms is straightforward.

The RNC chairman will show what role Trump will play on the campaign trail going forward

With the RNCs winter meeting taking place in the nation’s capital, it is critical for us to ensure that Trump voters are Republican voters.

In the elections held in November, the Republicans won big, and President-elect Trump won Vice President Kamala Harris won the White House, the GOP wrested the Senate from Democrats and held a razor-thin majority in the House.

Interviewed Thursday on the eve of the formal RNC chairman vote, Whatley said the GOP must build on gains made in the 2024 elections.

“We will go back to the building blocks that were in place during this election cycle, to get out the vote and build to protect the vote,” he emphasized.

The RNC chairman pointed to the “lessons we’ve learned” in the 2024 cycle about “going after low-propensity voters, reaching out to every voter and bringing in new communities,” which he said helped Republicans do so. Historical findings among African American voters, Asian American voters, Hispanic voters, young voters, and women voters.

Speaking just days before the president-elect’s inauguration, Watley emphasized that once Trump is in the White House, he will return to the RNC. We roll up our sleeves and get to work. We have two races of governors to work with in ’25.

House GOP campaign committee chairman makes 2026 prediction

But when the party defends its majorities in the House and the Senate, “everything is focused on 26” because, in terms of agenda, it will decide whether we have two years or four years to work. And America wants us to have a four-year agenda.

“What we’re doing is making sure we’re registering voters,” Menyle said. We connect people with what we need to do.

“It’s the same fundamentals,” he said, referring to the 2024 presidential election.

But he said “it’s not just seven battleground states” and the 2026 races will be “definitely a very intense midterm election cycle.”

Democrats disagree, but Manley describes today’s GOP as “the party of common sense…that’s the party that fights for every American family and every American community.”

The chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee has revealed his 2026 mission.

Referring to former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump nominated to serve in his second administration’s cabinet, he said, “We have two former Democratic presidential nominees to serve in the presidency.” The President’s Cabinet shows that this is a common-minded, common-sense group, where we can move forward.

In December, Trump asked to continue as RNC chairman through the 2026 cycle.

“I think we can talk when we need to talk,” he said when asked if his lines of communication with Trump would be limited now that the president-elect is returning to the White House. “We support the president and his agenda. That doesn’t matter, what changes from the White House is whether they can actually implement the agenda they’ve been campaigning on.”

Vance hosted high-dollar fundraisers before Trump’s inauguration.

The winter meeting included the last time at the RNC by assistant chairwoman Lara Trump. The president’s daughter-in-law is stepping down.

She emphasized that the RNC is taking the “opportunity the voters gave us” to “continue to advance the Republican name.”

The elder Trump is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2028. Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance is considered the frontrunner for the 2028 GOP nomination.

Whatley reiterated what he told Fox News Digital in December, that the RNC would remain neutral in the next race for the GOP nomination and that the party “got an amazing bench.”

“You think about the talent on the Republican side right now, our governors, our senators, our members of Congress, the people who serve in this administration. I love that the Republican Party is going to have a great candidate going into ’28,” he explained.

Unlike the DNC, which raised the traditional in the 2024 cycle presidential election calendar, The RNC has made no major changes to the primary lineup and has set the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as the first two contests.

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When asked about the 2028 calendar, Watley told Fox News again, “I haven’t had any conversations with anyone who wants to replace Lelander, so we’ll see what that looks like as we go forward. RNC meetings this week and lots of conversations with people, but that’s not a big push.”

“I don’t think changing the chronology helped the Democrats,” Maneile argued. “And I think it’s going to be critical to make sure we’re operating our system the way we always have.”