Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel believes it is time for Republicans to move into governing mode and predicted that failing to keep promises would hurt the party in next year’s midterm elections.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner at RNC headquarters Thursday, McDaniel, who took over as party chair in January, echoed recent claims by House Speaker Paul Ryan that the GOP agenda remaining stalled on Capitol Hill put the majorities at risk.
“It’s hard to win if you don’t govern. If you make these promises, it’s going to be hard for us to win in the midterms,” McDaniel said. “I think it’s early. I think the president’s working hard on those issues and we’ve already seen some very strong governance from the White House with deregulation, with [Neil] Gorsuch, with Keystone [Pipeline], with jobs coming back. But we have to continue that, and we have to keep promises that we made on the campaign trail.”
While President Trump and some members of Congress hinted at a move toward taking on tax reform after the Obamacare repeal vote was pulled, healthcare discussions have resumed between the White House and various congressional factions, including the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the centrist Tuesday Group.