Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel declared that the party loyalty pledge is here to stay after some 2024 GOP presidential candidates have called it into question.
The pushback comes after the RNC announced that candidates would have to sign a pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee in order to qualify for the first GOP primary debate, set to take place in August.
“It’s the Republican Party nomination and the pledge is staying,” McDaniel said in an interview with Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday.
“Anybody who wants to seek the nomination of our party should pledge to support the voters. If you go through this process and you take time on the debate stage and you’re going to be there, the number one pledge should be, beat Biden. It’s called the ‘Beat Biden Pledge’ for a reason, because at the end of the day, we all have to be united in one thing.”
The loyalty pledge has faced criticism from GOP presidential candidates, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“I think the pledge is just a useless idea ... And by the way, in all my life, we never had to have Republican primary candidates take a pledge,” Christie on Sunday told CNN’s Jake Tapper, who asked if he’d pledge to support GOP front-runner Donald Trump “even if he’s a convicted felon.”
“You know, we were Republicans,” Christie said. “And the idea is you’d support the Republican whether you won or whether you lost. You didn’t have to ask somebody to sign something.”
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson earlier called for a meeting with RNC officials to discuss amending the loyalty pledge in the wake of Trump’s federal indictment on Espionage Act charges, Politico reported.
“We need to concentrate on supporting the principles of the party, which is the rule of law, support of law enforcement and law and order versus simply trying to circle the wagons around Donald Trump and making sure he’s protected going into next year.” Hutchinson told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Trump, too, has also yet to commit to signing the loyalty pledge and has considered skipping debates, NBC News reported.
Christie name-dropped Trump on Sunday with a mention of Trump’s back-and-forth on a loyalty pledge ahead of the 2016 election.
“I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” Christie said.
H/T: Mediaite