Under the Dome: NC GOP to choose new chair ahead of 2024 election

Hello and welcome to your Under the Dome newsletter. Kyle Ingram here.

NC Republican Party to pick new leader ahead of 2024 election

The North Carolina GOP is gearing up for a leadership change next week after its chair, Michael Whatley, became the new head of the Republican National Committee.

The party will pick a new chair on Tuesday at an executive committee meeting.

With the support of former President Donald Trump, Whatley, who has led the NC Republican Party since 2019, was elected chair of the RNC earlier this month.

Trump wasn’t just interested in the RNC position, though — he’s already endorsed a candidate to succeed Whatley as chair of the state party.

Jason Simmons, current executive director of the NC GOP, received Trump’s endorsement to fill the post earlier this month.

“Jason Simmons has been with me since Day One, and has been key to our many Republican Victories in the Tar Heel State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Jason will be fantastic for the MAGA Movement, and I look forward to working with him to once again defeated Crooked Joe Biden in North Carolina.”

Simmons, who became executive director of the state party in 2021, previously worked for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. In a letter to committee members announcing his candidacy, Simmons said he shared a similar vision to Whatley.

“I am committed to raising the money it takes to recruit, train, and deploy volunteers across the state – volunteers who will work in the field to drive victories up and down the ballot,” Simmons said. “We will Get Out the Vote and Protect the Ballot here in North Carolina. Our ground game and our election integrity efforts will be the national standard.”

He also received an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Ted Budd.

Simmons is not the only candidate seeking to lead the party. He’ll face the chair of the Lee County Republican Party, Jim Womack, in the race.

Womack announced his candidacy this week in a video on X, formerly Twitter.

“We have such good results here in Lee County, which is a Democrat-dominated county, that I decided we’re gonna take this on a state level,” he said.

Womack ran unsuccessfully for chair in 2017 and 2019.

The party would usually select its chair at a party convention in an odd-numbered year, but Whatley’s early resignation means the executive committee will select a replacement to finish his term until 2025.

That’s all for today. Check your inbox on Sunday for more #ncpol news, including election results.

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