By Neil H. Simon
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
Katon Dawson (right) and J. Kenneth Blackwell , both candidates for chairman of the the Republican National Committee, share a laugh Friday between votes. Michael Steele won the five-way race on the sixth ballot.
By video from Neil H. Simon
By video from Neil H. Simon
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WASHINGTON-The Republican National Committee selected Michael Steele of Maryland over Katon Dawson of South Carolina Friday as its new chairman, putting an African-American into the post for the first time.
In the sixth ballot of what turned out to be a dramatic full day of voting by the party leaders, Dawson received 77 votes to Steele's 91. Eighty-five votes were required to win under party rules.
Dawson declined an interview after the election. He released a statement congratulating Steele and pledging to support the new chairman. "Today's hard-fought election among five honorable candidates for chairman was a testament to the strength of our cause and our ideals," Dawson said.
Dawson, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, did hold a short-lived two-vote lead over Steele on the fourth round of voting 62 to 60.
That was the first vote held after incumbent RNC chairman Robert "Michael" Duncan withdrew from the race.
"The winds of change are blowing here," Duncan said as he bowed out.
Duncan, appointed to the party leadership post by then-President George W. Bush, did not receive more than 52 votes in each of Friday's first three ballots.
With Republicans out of the White House and in shrunken minorities in both chambers of Congress, the party chairmanship becomes all the more important to revive the GOP's political message, fundraising, and electoral success.
Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2006, was seen as a moderate candidate in the crowded field. A sixth candidate, Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, withdrew from the race Thursday night.
A second African-American candidate, former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, never received more than 20 votes in the Friday. He withdrew after the fourth ballot and endorsed Steele.
Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis withdrew after the fifth ballot and did not endorse.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at nsimon@mediageneral.com)
In the sixth ballot of what turned out to be a dramatic full day of voting by the party leaders, Dawson received 77 votes to Steele's 91. Eighty-five votes were required to win under party rules.
Dawson declined an interview after the election. He released a statement congratulating Steele and pledging to support the new chairman. "Today's hard-fought election among five honorable candidates for chairman was a testament to the strength of our cause and our ideals," Dawson said.
Dawson, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, did hold a short-lived two-vote lead over Steele on the fourth round of voting 62 to 60.
That was the first vote held after incumbent RNC chairman Robert "Michael" Duncan withdrew from the race.
"The winds of change are blowing here," Duncan said as he bowed out.
Duncan, appointed to the party leadership post by then-President George W. Bush, did not receive more than 52 votes in each of Friday's first three ballots.
With Republicans out of the White House and in shrunken minorities in both chambers of Congress, the party chairmanship becomes all the more important to revive the GOP's political message, fundraising, and electoral success.
Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2006, was seen as a moderate candidate in the crowded field. A sixth candidate, Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, withdrew from the race Thursday night.
A second African-American candidate, former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, never received more than 20 votes in the Friday. He withdrew after the fourth ballot and endorsed Steele.
Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis withdrew after the fifth ballot and did not endorse.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at nsimon@mediageneral.com)