The Future of the GOP: An Interview with RNC Chair Candidate Harmeet Dhillon ’89

The Dartmouth Review’s Senior Correspondent and Senior Editor, Kevin Berghuis and Zoe Dominguez (TDR), interviewed Republican National Committee Chair candidate Harmeet Dhillon ’89 (HD), who served as Editor-in-Chief during her time at The Review.

The GOP vastly underperformed expectations in the 2022 midterm elections. The “Red Wave” anticipated by many pollsters and pundits never materialized, and the party continues to search for answers. Some blame President Trump for dampening Republican appeal to moderate voters. Others in the party blame Mitch McConnell and the GOP establishment for failing to provide adequate support to candidates in their general election races. Regardless, as the debate ignites over the merits of President Trump versus Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, another important race is taking place right now: for Chair of the Republican National Committee. 

The Chair is responsible for shaping the party’s platform, fundraising capabilities, campaign strategy, and resource allocation from the top down. Since 2017, the RNC has been led by Ronna Romney McDaniel, whose track record is disputed. While her leadership has boasted record fundraising, it has failed to generate results, and Republicans have fared poorly in the last three election cycles. In just under a week, 168 RNC committee members—three from each state and territory and the District of Columbia—will convene for a vote to determine if McDaniel deserves a fourth term.

Harmeet Dhillon ’89 is a lawyer, political commentator, and Republican Party activist. She also happens to be a former Editor-in-Chief of The Dartmouth Review. Ms. Dhillon is vying to replace McDaniel as RNC Chair. We were thrilled to sit down with such a distinguished alumna of the paper to understand her perspective and outlook on the current race. 

TDR: What do you see as the current problem in GOP leadership, and how do you plan to fix it as RNC Chair?

HD: The problem with the GOP is that we haven’t adapted to win elections in the last six years, and that may be a problem of longer standing since before this chair’s tenure. Let’s face it—we won pretty decisively in 2016, and, since that time, we’ve underperformed expectations. We have lost several governors. We have lost the White House. We’ve lost the Senate now, and we are barely holding onto the House after being out in the cold for four of the last six years. The party needs to adapt to using modern technology and modern methods of communicating with voters and, most importantly, keep up with all the law changes that have occurred regarding voting. 

If we don’t do these things, we will continue to lose. We aren’t losing because of one particular person. I don’t want to be seen as blaming the Chair [Ronna McDaniel] for all of these things, but she is the chair, and she is the leader of the party. She’s responsible for making decisions about our vendors, our strategies, how we spend, and the money we raise. She’s responsible for driving things forward in a creative manner, and she’s failed at doing that. That’s why I’m running. 

I’ve been on the RNC for six years, and I’m a volunteer in politics, and I’m tired of us losing elections. I’m not here for cocktail parties. I’m not here to get my photographs taken with famous people. I’m not here for the title. I have plenty of titles, and I have plenty of job satisfaction. I’m here to help Republicans win elections. I see it as a pointless exercise if we’re not doing that. That’s why I stepped forward, and, from the support I’m getting, I see a lot of other members feel the same way I do, but they didn’t step forward to run. I’m the person providing the only legitimate alternative within the RNC to the current leadership. 

TDR: In 2022, we saw how the party struggled to deal with the former president and his politics. This division among Republicans was apparent recently in the House Speakership vote. How do you see yourself delegating between these factions of the Republican Party?

HD: Factions are exacerbated when you’re losing. That’s a fact of life in all organizations and also in politics. I’ve been a loyal Republican since my teenage years, and over the years I’ve actively supported just about every candidate for president, whether they were establishment types like the Bushes, or whether they were Donald Trump, and everything in between. I think that’s my duty as a party leader. President Trump brought a lot of new people into the party, both Democrats and Republicans who are loyal to him. At this point in our party, we need to have a leader who is able to bridge the gap between establishment Republicans and the new voters in the party—the Trump voters. I have all the establishment credentials. I’ve been a member of the RNC for six years. I’ve been a member of the West State Party for nine years at the leadership level. I was the vice chair of the Republican Party of California. I’ve worked at the Heritage Foundation. I’ve gone to clerk for a federal judge. I feel like I bridge all of those worlds. 

The current chair was installed in her position by President Trump, and she’s been endorsed by him three times—that’s her background. I’m not sure what the establishment credentials are there. Briefly, she was the chair of the Michigan GOP. Her track record is about eight years old; mine is about 35 years old. In my Dartmouth days, I was a conservative activist. Ever since then, I’ve never let up. 

TDR: After the election, 101 delegates voiced their support for Ronna McDaniel in a letter, but a recent Trafalgar poll shows 85% of Republicans want you as RNC chair. What’s behind this disconnect, and how are you going to win these delegates over?

HD: Well, I’m not sure it is a disconnect. Let me describe the evolution. Normally, if a president puts you into office and you lose, you leave. Normally, somebody in her position would’ve left gracefully, retired, and moved back to whatever she was doing before. But she didn’t, and President Trump endorsed her for a third term [in 2021].

At that time, she got our votes by promising us she was going to leave after this third term. So [after 2022], it was with some shock and surprise to those of us whose names weren’t on that list to learn that she was planning to stick around for a fourth term. At the time that people signed off on that letter, there was nobody else running against her.

There are quite a few names on that list, by the way, of people who can’t even vote. They’ve been replaced on the RNC as chairs and committee people. So, I don’t see it as an issue. We’re picking up votes every day, and a lot of members—now that they realize there is a choice—plan to choose something different. In short, if there’s no choice, what are you going to do?

In politics, incumbents have an advantage, and, before December, nobody was running against her. So, my job is to make the case for change, and, as I’m getting into it, I’m talking to members about issues such as our failure to adapt to new voting laws throughout the United States, both in 2020 and 2022, and our poor messaging that doesn’t motivate Republicans and independents to support our candidates. For example, our lack of leadership on cultural issues is striking. We’re not giving people a reason to vote for the Republican Party, so why does the person leading the organization get to keep the job? 

We have a lot at stake in our country. We have the 2024 election coming up. Our country can’t afford more of these failed Democrat policies. They’re trying to destroy the nuclear family. They’re trying to destroy the concept of gender. They’re destroying our borders. They’re destroying our ability to feed ourselves. People can’t afford eggs. People can’t afford milk. That’s what’s at stake here. So, this is not a joke. You don’t vote for your “friend” because she was nice to you. That’s not how leadership should occur at the RNC. 

TDR: A key takeaway from 2022 was that there was seemingly no cohesive strategy to deal with controversial issues such as Roe. What’s the game plan on these issues going forward, and should they be dealt with at the local level, which, from my understanding, you’ve suggested in the past?

HD: Well, politics is largely local, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The same type of candidate and rhetoric that would work in Southern California won’t work in Northern California. The same policies that fly in Oklahoma aren’t going to fly in Illinois. So, we have to let Republicans at the local level tell us what their needs are and how they get Republicans elected in their state.

Within obvious parameters, they have to be Republicans who support our core conservative principles. But other than that, I’m a big believer in federalism. I’m a big believer in the state and the national party. If the national party is raising resources and giving it to states, it should not micromanage and control every aspect of that — what app they’re selecting, how they’re spending it, and who they’re hiring. [The RNC is] a very top-down organization right now. I think a lot of party chairs would love to see more autonomy in selecting what’s best for their region and how to get Republicans elected.

TDR: Perhaps a common sentiment in the young generation is that the Republican Party is not seen as a champion for causes, but rather an opposing force. Do you agree with that characterization and think it’s a problem?

HD: I’m not sure that’s entirely fair. But if we’re giving the impression that we’re always against something instead of for something, that’s a failure in communication by the House leadership, Senate leadership, and the RNC. Kevin McCarthy had a good program that he introduced late in the cycle last year. It didn’t get enough play and wasn’t greatly articulated, but a return to core conservative principles is a good thing. I haven’t heard the current leadership talk about our platform at all. [McDaniel] described the Dobbs decision as a major problem for Republicans, but nothing is a problem if you message it correctly and are persuasive. I’m a lawyer who’s been trained to go into court and argue both sides of any argument. I know it’s not easy to message issues that may be controversial, but you can’t ignore major decisions, particularly if they’re part of your party platform. We have to be thinking at all times about how to persuade hearts and minds to come around to our viewpoint. 

We also need to combat inertia. Democrats have done a good job at capturing the White House. While I do think certain illegitimate means were used, such as Zuckerbucks, once they came to power, they began passing popular measures—such as waiving student debt—that are completely illegitimate. Are Republicans also thinking strategically about programs and policies that can move the ball within different communities? I think we’ve done a terrible job messaging to young voters and minority communities. The current RNC strategy is to put a minority community center in a limited-scope urban neighborhood. Photo ops at community centers are nice, but they’re not sufficient at moving votes in our direction. To do that, we need many more voices out there speaking on behalf of the party and influencing people.

Democrats invest heavily in social media influencers because that’s how most people consume their content these days—rather than through expensive TV ads or newspaper stories. People are consuming short video content, and we’re not competing in that space at all, which is a total failure. 

TDR: We love hearing stories from past Reviewers. Do you have a favorite memory or moment at the paper?

HD: There are so many. My era was very active, and we had a series of controversial situations and stories. I really just enjoyed the fellowship of working for a common cause with other really smart, young people. I was part of the era where we were moving from physically laying out the paper on strips to laying it out on the computer, and we learned a lot of skills. Outside the office, you know, we were always doing shoe leather. I don’t think journalists even do that anymore, but we would physically report and try to talk to professors and get comments from them. We were always trying to find a new story. 

TDR: Thank you so much for your time, and we wish you the best of luck in the upcoming race.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.