List of chairs of the Republican National Committee

The chair of the Republican National Committee is the de-jure leader of the Republican Party.^[1][2]

Chair of the Republican National Committee
Incumbent Michael Whatley since March 8, 2024
Appointer	Republican National Committee
Term length	4 years; renewable
Inaugural holder	Edwin D. Morgan
Formation	1856
Website	Official website

The chair manages the day-to-day affairs and operations of the Republican National Committee (RNC), prepares and conducts the quadrennial Republican National Convention, and promotes the Republican political platform and the "party brand".^[3]

The current officeholder is Michael Whatley of North Carolina, who took office on March 8, 2024.^[4][5]

Chairs of the Republican National Committee

List of Republican National Committee chairs

#	Chair		Term	State[6]
1		Edwin Morgan	1856–1864	New York
2		Henry Raymond	1864–1866	New York
3		Marcus Ward	1866–1868	New Jersey
4		William Claflin	1868–1872	Massachusetts
5		Edwin Morgan	1872–1876	New York
6		Zachariah Chandler	1876–1879	Michigan
7		Donald Cameron	1879–1880	Pennsylvania
8		Marshall Jewell	1880–1883	Connecticut
9		Dwight Sabin	1883–1884	Minnesota
10		Benjamin Jones	1884–1888	New Jersey
11		Matthew Quay	1888–1891	Pennsylvania
12		James Clarkson	1891–1892	Iowa
13		William Campbell[7][8]	1892	Illinois
14		Thomas Carter	1892–1896	Montana
15		Mark Hanna	1896–1904	Ohio
		Henry Payne (Acting)	1904	Wisconsin
16		George Cortelyou	1904–1907	New York
17		Harry New	1907–1908	Indiana
18		Frank Hitchcock	1908–1909	Ohio
19		John Hill (Acting: 1909–1911)	1909–1912	Maine
20		Victor Rosewater	1912	Nebraska
21		Charles Hilles	1912–1916	New York
22		William Willcox	1916–1918	New York
23		Will Hays	1918–1921	Indiana
24		John Adams	1921–1924	Iowa
25		William Butler	1924–1928	Massachusetts
26		Hubert Work	1928–1929	Colorado
27		Claudius Huston	1929–1930	Tennessee
28		Simeon Fess	1930–1932	Ohio
29		Everett Sanders	1932–1934	Indiana
30		Henry Fletcher	1934–1936	Pennsylvania
31		John Hamilton	1936–1940	Kansas
32		Joseph Martin	1940–1942	Massachusetts
33		Harrison Spangler	1942–1944	Iowa
34		Herbert Brownell	1944–1946	New York
35		Carroll Reece	1946–1948	Tennessee
36		Hugh Scott	1948–1949	Pennsylvania
37		Guy Gabrielson	1949–1952	New Jersey
38		Arthur Summerfield	1952–1953	Michigan
39		C. Wesley Roberts	1953	Kansas
40		Leonard Hall	1953–1957	New York
41		Meade Alcorn	1957–1959	Connecticut
42		Thruston Morton	1959–1961	Kentucky
43		William Miller	1961–1964	New York
44		Dean Burch	1964–1965	Arizona
45		Ray Bliss	1965–1969	Ohio
46		Rogers Morton	1969–1971	Maryland
47		Bob Dole	1971–1973	Kansas
48		George H. W. Bush	1973–1974	Texas
49		Mary Smith	1974–1977	Iowa
50		Bill Brock	1977–1981	Tennessee
51		Dick Richards	1981–1983	Utah
		Paul Laxalt (General Chair)	1983–1987	Nevada
52		Frank Fahrenkopf (National Chair)		Nevada
		Frank Fahrenkopf	1987–1989	Nevada
53		Lee Atwater	1989–1991	South Carolina
54		Clay Yeutter	1991–1992	Nebraska
55		Richard Bond	1992–1993	Missouri
56		Haley Barbour	1993–1997	Mississippi
57		Jim Nicholson	1997–2001	Colorado
58		Jim Gilmore	2001–2002	Virginia
59		Marc Racicot	2002–2004	Montana
60		Ed Gillespie	2004–2006	Virginia
61		Ken Mehlman	2006–2007	District of Columbia
		Mel Martínez (General Chair)	2007	Florida
62		Mike Duncan (National Chair)		Kentucky
			2007–2009
63		Michael Steele	2009–2011	Maryland
64		Reince Priebus	2011–2017	Wisconsin
65		Ronna Romney McDaniel	2017–2024	Michigan
66		Michael Whatley	2024–present	North Carolina

Further reading

• Cotter, Cornelius P., and Bernard C. Hennessy, eds. Politics without Power: The National Party Committees (1964) excerpt
• Heersink, Boris (2023). National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics: The Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1912-2016. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197695104.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-769514-2.
• Heersink, Boris. "Examining Democratic and Republican National Committee Party Branding Activity, 1953–2012." Perspectives on Politics (2021): 1–18.
• Heersink, Boris. "Trump and the party-in-organization: Presidential control of national party organizations." Journal of Politics 80.4 (2018): 1474–1482. online
• Heersink, Boris. "Party Brands and the Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1952–1976." Studies in American Political Development 32.1 (2018): 79–102. online