RNC CHAIRWOMAN RONNA MCDANIEL
SUMMER MEETING 2021: GENERAL SESSION
AUGUST 13, 2021
NASHVILLE, TN
REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Hello and welcome to our 2021 Summer Meeting!
I am thrilled to be here in Nashville with all of you.
There are so many people I need to thank for making this week possible:
I also want to thank my family – my amazing husband Patrick and my children Abigail and Nash.
Being a mom and wife are the most important jobs I have, and I am so grateful for their love and support.
I want to honor the memory of two individuals not with us today.
Margaret Metcalfe and Bill Brock: both led amazing lives, were extraordinary leaders, and leave behind remarkable legacies. We miss their kind presence and their friendship.
Thank you to our Tennessee hosts.
Finally, thank you to all the Members of the 168.
Thank you for stepping up to serve our Party and the country we love.
Since Winter Meeting, we have added more than 20 new State Chairs, committeemen and women to our team.
You are already making incredible contributions to our Party. You are going help lead Republicans to victories in 2022!
This is now my 5th Summer Meeting as RNC Chair.
I am so proud to be Chairman of a Party that is growing, leading, and uniting to win!
At the RNC, we are doing our part to make that happen. You are doing your part to make it happen.
We are making tremendous progress.
That starts with raising the resources we need to win.
We have brought in 85 million dollars already this cycle.
We have more than 81 million dollars on hand. All without any debt!
We have spent tens of millions of dollars to defend election integrity, hold Democrats accountable, grow our data and ground game, register voters, and open minority engagement community centers earlier than ever.
Key to our success is reaching new voters. We continue to bring our Party’s empowering message to every community.
Every day more and more Americans are finding their home in our Party.
We have welcomed more than 25 million new Republican voters since 2016.
This is in large part due to our outreach and engagement.
We are opening community centers in cities across the country dedicated to engaging Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans.
Last week we cut the ribbon on our first Black Community Center in Cleveland.
In June, we opened our first APA community center in Congresswoman Michelle Steel’s District.
At the event, I met a young man named Brandon Nguyen.
Brandon is a superstar volunteer who helped Michelle Steel get elected.
He made over 100,000 phone calls, knocked on more than 1,000 doors, and wrote personalized postcards to voters.
Brandon is only 16!
He is the first recipient of the Chairman’s Champion award, which recognizes and celebrates our great grassroots volunteers
We are also engaging the Hispanic community with our office openings in Laredo and McAllen, Texas next week – with many more on the way!
Doing this kind of engagement this early demonstrates we are committed to investing and building in diverse communities for the long-term.
Democrats continuously take these communities for granted.
This is about so much more than just politics – we are going to be present in these communities every day.
We are having conversations and learning from them about how we can better represent their communities as a party.
This type of engagement is paying off.
Look at Texas.
In June, a Republican flipped the mayorship in McAllen.
This is a city that is 85 percent Hispanic and voted for Hillary Clinton by 40 points!
We are competing for every vote and we are winning!
We are also looking ahead to three big races this Fall. The recall of Gavin Newsom in California, and the elections of Glenn Youngkin in Virginia and Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey.
But we cannot talk about winning at the ballot box if we do not restore confidence in free and fair elections.
Every one of us knows we can never let what we saw in 2020 happen again.
Democrats waged war on election transparency, security, and integrity - undermining our elections.
We are using every tool at our disposal to protect every vote.
We formed an Election Integrity Committee
We are in 19 lawsuits protecting common-sense election integrity laws across the country.
Republicans are making it easier to vote and harder to cheat.
We are leading this fight and winning. Our elections will be secure!
When we met in January, we were all dreading the thought of Joe Biden stumbling and bumbling around the White House.
We could not have imagined how much damage and division he could cause in such a short period of time.
President Trump got workers higher wages. Biden got them pink slips.
On the world stage, more failure:
On top of that, look at the disaster at our southern border:
The numbers are historic and horrifying.
Biden’s open-borders policy is to blame.
And one more obvious question - where is Kamala? She is supposed to be in charge. Where is she?
It gets worse. Violent crime is surging because Democrats are Defunding the Police.
And Joe Biden still won’t condemn this dangerous Defund the Police movement.
As Democrats defund, demean, and disparage police, let us acknowledge the men and women in law enforcement for the heroes they are.
We stand with them and appreciate the sacrifices they make every day.
Republicans Back the Blue!
Nowhere is Democrats’ extremism more evident than when it comes to our most fundamental right of all: the right to life.
Not long-ago Democrats believed abortion should be “safe, legal and, rare.” Now they support taxpayer funded abortion on demand, up to and after the point of birth.
Whether it is on:
Joe Biden is in lock step with the radical left.
This only motivates us to work harder!
I am confident as ever in our country’s future.
Confident because of the leaders in our Party and the work they are doing to improve the lives of all Americans.
Republican leaders are showing Americans what strong, conservative leadership looks like.
There is no clearer contrast, than the way Republican governors have led during this pandemic vs how Democrat governors have failed through this pandemic.
Trust me, I know - I am from the People’s Republic of Michigan.
Whitmer, Cuomo and Newsom took away freedoms to increase their own power.
They destroyed small businesses with disastrous lockdowns.
They kept children out of the classroom and imposed unscientific mandates – only to be caught breaking their own rules time and again
Meanwhile, Governors like Abbott, DeSantis and Noem are leading.
They followed the science, kept small businesses open, kept our kids in school, and kept our churches open.
They protected our liberties and preserved our freedoms!
The results do not lie:
Recently I have had the opportunity to have conversations with some of these incredible Republican leaders as part of my podcast, Real America.
“Real America” highlights Republican leaders and shows how Republican policies are leading America’s comeback through conservative values and commonsense solutions.
At the heart of what we stand for as Republicans is our optimistic agenda. A mission to create opportunity for every American.
A great example of our Party’s optimistic, uplifting message is the one Tim Scott delivered a few months back.
We are the Party that cares about achieving measurable, meaningful results for all Americans.
We stand for freedom. We stand for our Constitution. And we stand for our American flag!
We stand united in our belief that America is the greatest nation on earth and the greatest force for good the world has ever known!
It was Ronald Reagan who said: “The greatest leaders are not necessarily the ones who do the greatest things. They are the ones who get people to do the greatest things.”
RNC Members, now it is our time to be those leaders.
To be out there mobilizing and inspiring others to get involved in the greatest fight our nation has ever faced.
A fight that will determine whether we can keep the America we know and love.
America’s future is always worth fighting for.
Freedom is always worth fighting for.
I am proud to be in this fight alongside every one of you.
I am so optimistic about this next election because I see the energy and passion of people across our country every day.
I also know one other thing. Democrats and their radical policies have awakened a sleeping giant – moms!
Moms are mobilizing against what Democrats are doing to our kids.
We will not let you teach our kids that they were born racist or oppressed based on the color of their skin.
We will fight for school-choice and the best education for our kids.
Democrats are the party of limiting opportunity. We are the party of limitless opportunity.
We know the best path to the American dream comes from a good education and the right to choose the best school for your child.
We will not allow Democrats to close our classrooms again or mask up our children again.
We will not allow unions to teach our kids anything other than that the United States is the greatest nation on earth.
Finally, the Democrats cannot take away my right to call myself a mom – not a birthing person – a mom.
It is the most important job I will ever have.
So Joe Biden, Kamala, Nancy, Chuck, Big tech censors, Liberal media, and the Democrat socialist, defund the police party, we have a message for you!
The American people love freedom. Freedom of speech, religion, and opportunity.
We love this country and, despite all you do, freedom matters, and freedom will win.
We will take back the House and Senate in 2022 and we will take back the White House in 2024.
Thank you, God Bless you and God Bless the United States of America!
