Michigan’s Ronna Romney McDaniel May Be Tapped to Lead RNC

President-elect Donald J. Trump may tap Michigan Republican Party chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel to run the Republican National Committee — a position only one other woman, Mary Louise Smith of Iowa from 1974-77, has ever held.

McDaniel is the niece of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, one of Trump’s harshest critics. He eviscerated Trump in major speech days before Michigan and several other early states held primaries, and predicted that nominating Trump as Republicans’ standard bearer would ensure Democrat Hillary Clinton won the White House.

McDaniel plans to seek another term as the GOP chairwoman, but said she would consider taking the top job.

“I’ll be interested in whatever Mr. Trump wants,” McDaniel told the Associated Press.

McDaniel sharply condemned Trump last month after the release of 2005 tapes in which Trump boasted in vulgar terms of kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women and said “when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

“As a woman, as the mother of a 13-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, and as a Republican, I find Mr. Trump’s comments reprehensible and disgusting. Mr. Trump has apologized for the comments he made 11 years ago, but needs to do so again and again if he hopes to gain back any semblance of public trust,” McDaniel said in a statement after the tapes were made public.

“I am confident that Michiganders know that Donald Trump’s comments represent only himself, and other Republicans do not share his views,” she said. “Donald Trump's comments are his alone to own and I cannot and will not defend them.”

The AP report said Trump also is considering Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, to as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Grenell was former President George W. Bush’s U.S. spokesman at the UN. If appointed by Trump, he would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post.

Trump was widely criticized during the campaign for remarks that were demeaning to women, and naming McDaniel to run the Republican National Committee could help him bridge some of those divides. Grenell’s appointment could help allay concerns about vice president-elect Mike Pence’s statements about marriage equality and other issues important to LGBTQ Americans.

The AP said the two possible appointments were confirmed by individuals who have direct knowledge of Trump’s thinking as he puts together his cabinet and staff.

Photo illustration images from Steve Baker via Flickr Commons and Michigan Republican Party