Turning Point held a counterprograming event and training session at a casino across Las Vegas Boulevard called “Restoring National Confidence,” a play on the RNC's initials, days before the winter conference. Nearly 400 group members, including RNC members and state and local Republican Party leaders, attended the invite-only dinner.
Kirk, who conducts a popular radio show, is part of a conservative faction that has publicly criticized the RNC for spending excessively and ignoring its grassroots base. They claim that caused losses in 2018 and 2020 and disappointing outcomes in 2022.
Some Turning Point supporters have joined the RNC, and the group is aggressively recruiting others, which would give it more control over the party's direction and maybe the chair.
“We know a pack of losers when we see it: top to bottom, the entire RNC staff in its current form,” Kirk stated Thursday on his radio show. Members of the RNC, including McDaniel critics, believed the Turning Point campaign was misguided
Attacking the brand and the chair doesn't advance our fundamental goal of winning elections,” said McDaniel critic Henry Barbour, a Mississippi national committeeman. McDaniel's friends point that the Democratic National Committee was $5 million in debt in the early days of the 2020 election, when it was seeking to elect a Democrat.
Turning Point's efforts to extend beyond the young movement have had mixed outcomes. The organization has suffered in Arizona, where many of its recommended candidates lost statewide contests that were winnable.
Leaders have also been criticized for charter jet trips, hefty salaries, and hosting Kirk's 2021 wedding celebration. Turning Point is seeking $108 million for a comparable get-out-the-vote operation in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia.
RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn blamed internet complaints for the issues. “Keyboard warriors and Democrats may be focused on outside noise,” she warned. Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and the Republican National Committee are focused on defeating Biden in fall.
STAY TURNED FOR DEVELOPMENT