U.S.: Indian-origin Harmeet Dhillon loses Republican National Committee Polls

Chandigarh-born Indian-Amerian Politician Harmeet Dhillon on Friday lost the polls to head the Republican National Committee (RNC) to the current RNC chair, Ronna McDaniels.

The re-election of McDaniels drew criticism due to the politician leading the party through the last three successive defeats, media outlets reported. Under the presidency of McDaniels, the Republicans lost the House of Representatives in 2018 and Senate and the presidential election in 2020, as well as the mid-term elections in 2022.

After the election results, the Indian-origin politician stated, “At the end of the day, if our party is perceived as totally out of touch with the grassroots, which I think some may take away from this outcome, we have some work to do.”

The 168-member committee of the RNC saw McDaniels being elected again with an overwhelming majority, with McDaniels raking in 111 votes while Dhillon could accrue only 51.

During the campaign, Dhillon tweeted, “No amount of threats to me or my team, or bigoted attacks on my faith traceable directly to associates of the chair, will deter me from advancing positive change at the RNC” seemingly regarding the speculations that McDaniels’ supporters were running a whisper campaign against the Chandigarh-born lawyer due to her Sikh faith.

Founder of the Dhillon Law Group, Harmeet Dhillon is one of two members of the US Republican party having roots in Punjab, alongside Nikki Haley, the first Indian-American to be on the US Cabinet.