After several ballots at yesterday’s RNC meeting, Michael Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor and GOPAC chairman, was elected as chairman of the party.
Steele trailed early on in the balloting, but after several notable candidates dropped out, including the most recent chairman, Mike Duncan, Steele became the likely winner.
Steele, an African-American and Catholic, is noted mainly for his ability to organize, his welcoming of new and social media, and strong fiscal conservatism.
He also sees the Republican Party as the conservative alternative in the United States and not something to apologize for. In a conference call with bloggers [1] earlier in this campaign, Steele said he was “sick and tired” of the “whining” in the Republican Party and that the party should quit pretending to be “Democrat-lite”.
“If I wanted to be a Democrat, having grown up in Washington DC and living for twenty years in the bluest of blue states of Maryland, I would have been,” said Steele. “We are the conservative party.”
Steele headlined at the RPV Advance last month and is popular amongst members of the GOP in Virginia said Virginia Party Chairman Jeff Frederick.
“This is a great day for our party — a historic day — and I am excited to begin the Michael Steele era at the RNC,” said Frederick. “We are in…need of a leader who can reach out and bring new people into the Party of Lincoln. Chairman Steele is that person,” said Frederick.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor, also was glad to see Michael Steele elected to the post. McDonnell says that Steele represents a party that welcomes voters who believe in freedom, free markets, individual liberties, personal responsibility and equal opportunity.
But McDonnell recognizes that taking that message to all voters in Virginia is not only key to GOP success, but will take a great deal of effort.
“We have a lot of work to do to attract new voters, and to take our common sense message to every neighborhood and community in Virginia and across the country. That is the kind of campaign we are running in Virginia this year. A campaign that is welcoming, open and vigorous. A campaign dedicated to speaking with every voter, and demonstrating why our Party has the solutions our nation needs at this critical moment in our history,” said McDonnell. “I am excited by his election, and I look forward to working with Chairman Steele to win this year in Virginia”