The results of the midterm elections, including in Georgia, where incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated GOP challenger Herschel Walker in Tuesday's runoff election, show the Republican Party needs to do a better job when it comes to voters using mailed-in ballots, and that will be a challenge for the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Rep. Dan Meuser said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"Just in Pennsylvania, this last election, the Democrats had over 1 million mail-in ballots," the Pennsylvania Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Republicans had barely 150,000, so before Election Day even began, we were that far behind."
Meuser's comments come after Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., announced Wednesday he would not be campaigning to replace current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.
"He's got a lot of great thoughts going and very strategic [plans] so he would be an excellent RNC chair, but Ronna McDaniel has been there for a while," said Meuser. "She's been doing a very effective job. She certainly has been working very hard."
However, he said "you can't go pinning" party losses on McDaniel, considering the challenges behind embracing mail-in ballots.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, Walker's loss came even though Republicans knew the contest would be a close one, said Meuser.
"Herschel Walker was stating all the right things," said Meuser, adding that critics called him "unqualified."
However, Meuser said Walker was no more unqualified than Walker and "certainly no more than" Pennsylvania Sen.-elect John Fetterman.
Meuser also discussed the push by GOP lawmakers to end the COVID-19 mandate requirement as a condition for passing the National Defense Authorization Act, and praised House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, likely the next House speaker, for fighting for the change.
"He did a great job informing the White House that this is the way it was going to be," said Meuser. "It is going to be very important for our military readiness to remove the vaccine mandate."
He pointed out that the military's recruitment is down, and applications for the nation's service academies are anemic. "We're not going to vote for the NDAA unless the vaccine mandate [ban] is part of it, and I think I think our troops are cheering for that," said Meuser, adding that the defense funding bill probably won't come up for a vote until next week.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.