Exclusive: President-elect Trump will not be on the ballot in the 2026 midterm elections, but Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said he will play a “significant” role in supporting Republican candidates. .
Republicans won a landslide victory in last month's elections, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris to win the White House, and Republicans regained control of the Senate from Democrats and maintained a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
“The fundamentals remain the same going into the next election cycle,” Whatley insisted in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
“We need to build our state parties, build our ground battles, and build an electoral integrity system to ensure we get our candidates through the 2026 primaries. We need to get them across the finish line. “We will be in a position to take them to the next level,” he stressed.
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On July 15, 2024, on the first day of the Republican National Committee meeting at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley calls for a decision to convene the Republican National Committee. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
However, the party in power traditionally suffers setbacks in the next midterm elections. And Trump, who was a strong candidate in terms of turnout, will not be on the ballot in 2026.
Whatley said he would not be a candidate, but that “at the end of the day, what we have to do is keep the House and keep Congress, so President Trump has a very important role to play in this issue.” It will be fulfilled,” he said. So that the Senate can finish his term and agenda. ”
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Whatley predicted that “Donald Trump will be very active in the Republican campaign, and his policies are the same as the policies we're going to implement.”
President Donald Trump arrives to address an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee have outperformed the Trump campaign and the RNC so far this cycle, but the party's imminent control of the White House will make Republicans even more competitive in the midterm campaign finance race. Mr. Whatley is convinced that he is deaf.
“I'm very excited about where we are with the fundraising we've done throughout this cycle and what's to come,” he said.
Whatley's message to donors: “We succeeded in putting Donald Trump in the White House, and we need to maintain majorities in the House and Senate to advance his policies.” Ta.
He also pushed back against the RNC and Trump campaign's relentless pursuit of their ground campaign efforts during the general election.
“We focused very much on low-propensity voters. This was a completely new system that we introduced during this election period. It worked very well,” he stressed.
And looking to the future, he said, “low-propensity voters are still going to be very important for us in the midterm election cycle, so we're going to continue to focus on building those kinds of programs.” said.
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“We also focused on reaching out to communities that the Republican Party has not traditionally reached, including Black voters, Hispanic voters, and Asian American voters,” Whatley said. That's why we were able to see this seismic shift against Donald Trump compared to what we saw in 2016 and 2020 with such blocs. And because we were talking to the entire American electorate, we also saw a seismic shift among younger voters and women voters. Our ground battles were very fruitful. ”
Whatley was interviewed a week after President Trump asked him to continue as RNC chairman.
In March, after securing the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, President Trump nominated Whatley as his successor. Ronna McDaniel As RNC Chairman. Mr. Whatley is a longtime ally of the former president and a key supporter of Mr. Trump's election integrity efforts, having served as general counsel for the RNC and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.
Trump is term-limited and cannot run for election again in 2028. Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance is likely to be considered the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Vice President-elect Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (left) and President-elect Donald Trump during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But when asked if the RNC would maintain its traditional role of remaining neutral in open presidential primaries, Whatley said: “We will.”
And he said, “I'm so excited about the seats that exist within the Republican Party right now. You think about all the Republican governors, you think about all the Republican senators, representatives, leaders.'' “There will be,” he added. People from all over the country who participated in this campaign will be part of the President's Cabinet. ”
Whatley argued that the president-elect's “America First movement is bigger than Donald Trump. He's the tip of the spear. He's the vanguard of this movement. But it's a very big movement right now.”
“Donald Trump has completely reshaped the Republican Party. We are now the party of the working class. We are now able to communicate with all voters, work together, and address issues that matter to all voters,” he said. “This is a political party that speaks about politics.” So, as we head into 2028, we are in a great position to continue the momentum of this agenda and movement. ”
The sign outside the New Hampshire State Capitol in Concord honors the state's cherished century-old tradition of holding the nation's first presidential primary in the race for the White House. (Fox News)
Unlike the DNC, which upended the traditional presidential nominating calendar for the 2024 cycle, the RNC has not made any major changes to its primary lineup, keeping the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as its first two races. did.
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When asked about the 2028 calendar, Whatley said, “I haven't talked to anyone on our side who wants to change the calendar. I'm not aware of any Democrats doing that during this election cycle. “But I don't know if it really helped them.” many. “
“We're very happy with the current calendar, but we'll be having those conversations for 2028,” he added.
