In case you missed it, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Joe Gruters sat down with Washington Reporter to highlight how Republicans will fight to keep the majority. With the right candidates, resources, and winning message, Chairman Gruters made it clear that Republicans will “defy history this November.”
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RNC Chairman Joe Gruters: “We’re going to defy history this November”
Washington Reporter
September 15, 2026
Even before the first-ever Republican National Convention (RNC) ended, Joe Gruters — the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Chairman — told the Washington Reporter in an interview that it was both a success and that his party should look to repeat it in future cycles.
“We’ve had millions of people viewing from around the country, a million viewers that watched different clips on social media today,” Gruters said. “At the end of the day, I do think it’s worth it. These guys did an amazing job. I think we’re going to do something that has not been done often: win these midterms as the incumbent party, but it’s going to be because of everything we’ve done, because we have the right candidates, because we have the resources, because we have the messaging.”
But planning the convention, he noted, took a village. “We’re so lucky to have the best operators in the country working for the Republican Party”; the idea itself came directly from President Donald Trump, he added. “When the president had this idea, I thought it was an amazing one, because if we’re going to win this midterm cycle, we are going to have to do things that have never been done before,” Gruters said, adding that the GOP will unleash tens of millions of dollars in advertising once the convention ends, after months of “holding the line” on campaign spending.
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But the convention itself is not the end. “We’re not going to stop,” Gruters said, elevating the stakes of November’s elections. “We have no option other than to win. We have to win because the left wants to fundamentally change the way we live here in America. We can’t let it happen. It’s common sense versus crazy. It’s good guys versus bad. We have to win…We’re going to go to bat for the average American. We want to make sure that everybody has that chance of the American Dream. Don’t give up hope. Don’t believe that the communist utopia that the left is trying to sell America is the way to go. That leftist extremism is going to be rejected by the American people, and we’re going to win this to save the country and the world.”
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“We had Ken Paxton last night, and the ballot for him moved a couple of points in a single night,” Gruters said, following Paxton’s well-received speech. “He probably had the best speech he ever right here in this arena, right here in this convention, in front of millions of people watching, and I think it makes a big difference. If you look at all of our candidates, all these House candidates who are embracing the idea that we can do more for the American people, that we can give hope to the American people to achieve that American Dream, that’s why these candidates are great.”
“Mike Rogers came out today,” Gruters added, “and he really knocked it out of the park, and we saw so many of these other great congressional candidates. Mike Lawler is always one of my favorite speakers. He’s in a district that defies logic. He’s a guy who’s in a district that’s minus seven, and yet he wins in New York. He doesn’t run away from the issues. He runs towards them, and he came out here and knocked everybody’s socks off. That’s the energy that we need in the party. That’s why these candidates are being so successful. We have great candidates with great ideas and a message that’s going to resonate with the American people.”
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“We’re so lucky to have Byron Donalds at the top of the ticket, along with Ashley Moody running for U.S. Senate,” Gruters said. “They’re two of the best candidates we could possibly put up, and as a result, as we get past this primary, as we consolidate the base around both Donalds and around Moody, we’ll also have potentially nine members of Congress who may be new Republicans as a result of redistricting and because of retirement. These new elected officials are going to be great conservative MAGA warriors and they are going to be successful. But it all starts with Byron Donalds. He’s one of the best communicators in the country. He has a silver tongue, and he’s a great conservative.”
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