Can a repeat challenger defeat Trump's pick for NC GOP chair?
For the first time in five years, the North Carolina Republican Party will have a new chairperson.
The state GOP’s executive committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to elect a replacement for Michael Whatley, who is leaving his role as state chairman to lead the Republican National Committee.
The top candidates are Jason Simmons, the state party’s executive director, and Jim Womack, who is chairman of the Lee County GOP and has previously run to lead the NC GOP.
Simmons is considered the favorite, given his position within the party and endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Before becoming the party’s executive director in 2021, he worked for Trump’s presidential campaigns and as a regional political director for the RNC.
Trump offered his endorsement in a social media post on Truth Social earlier this month. Trump said that, like Whatley, “Jason Simmons has been with me since Day One, and has been key to our many Republican Victories in the Tar Heel State.”
It continued, making reference to Trump’s “make America great again” mantra: “Jason will be fantastic for the MAGA Movement, and I look forward to working with him to once again defeat Crooked Joe Biden in North Carolina. Jason has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
During Simmons’ time as party executive director, Republicans gained control of the state Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals. They also won enough seats to secure veto-proof supermajorities in the state House and the Senate. Simmons is campaigning on that experience, telling party members that they can’t afford a change in leadership so close to a presidential election.
“Now is not the time for any on-the-job training,” Simmons recently wrote to committee members, according to the Associated Press.
Womack has been involved with the party for years, often challenging party leadership.
In 2016, he was a vocal defender of former NC GOP chairman Hasan Harnett, who was ousted amid allegations of violating party rules. Then, in 2017, Womack ran for party chairman against replacement chairman Robin Hayes. Womack sought “top-to-bottom reform of the party and a complete reworking of the NC GOP’s Plan of Organization,” according to his campaign website.
After coming up short in 2017, Womack ran again in 2019 for the seat, which was open after Hayes stepped down following federal charges for his involvement in a bribery scheme. But the executive committee backed Whatley, who gained a reputation for helping Trump win North Carolina in 2016 and vowed to do it again in 2020 by professionalizing the party.
Womack, a former Lee County commissioner, released a video this month in which he introduces himself to viewers and talks about his reason for running. Womack mentions serving four years as a Lee County commissioner, then adds that “what I loved more than serving as an elected official was helping other people get elected.”
