Ronna McDaniel is being backed by a group of more than 30 Republican Jewish leaders in her bid to retain her position as chair of the Republican National Committee, reports The Washington Examiner.
In a letter sent to the RNC's 168 members Thursday, the group cited McDaniel's leadership as bring crucial to making "significant inroads" with Jewish Americans and increasing turnout among the voting group.
"Under her leadership she opened 38 community centers, including the first-ever Jewish Community Center in southern Florida, helping to create the largest percentage of Jewish Republicans on Election Day in partnership with our Republican Jewish Coalition," the members wrote.
"Ronna helped lead significant inroads with Jewish Americans, including celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month as well as standing up and condemning anti-Israel statements, antisemitism, the university campus BDS [boycott, divestment, and sanctions] movements, just to name a few. These actions can be controversial, but it has not stopped Ronna from standing firm and side by side with the Jewish community."
McDaniel as RNC chair has touted coalition-building with several minority groups, both ethnic and religious.
Faith has become a focus of the race for chair as opponents of Harmeet Dhillon, who is running to replace McDaniel, have started to raise concerns about her Sikh faith.
McDaniel on Wednesday said she "wholeheartedly condemn[s] religious bigotry in any form."
"We are the party of faith, family, and freedom, and these attacks have no place in our party or our politics," McDaniel said in a statement to Politico. "As a member of a minority faith myself, I would never condone such attacks. I have vowed to run a positive campaign and will continue to do so."
McDaniel, who's running for a fourth two-year term to lead the national organization, has come under fire after disappointing midterm elections — Republicans secured a small majority in the House of Representatives but failed to win control back of the Senate. Dhillon represented former President Donald Trump in lawsuits related to the 2020 presidential election.
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