Michael Steele, Former Republican National Committee Chair, Lowers Boom on GOP Leadership

In a short lecture and Q&A session on Thursday at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall, former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Steele criticized his party’s leadership and called for wide-ranging electoral reforms. Steele, who can appear affable even as he excoriates or exhorts, specifically called out House Republicans as a definitive example of why change was needed. “Just look at everybody who voted to keep Donald Trump in power after they knew what he did [in the January 6 insurrection],” he exclaimed. “Just look at [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy saying he knew it was Trump’s fault. There is no reason in this earth that this man should be reelected and become the next Speaker of the House … but he most definitely will.”

Steele, the first Black man to lead the RNC, was elected to that position in 2009. He was a prominent and sometimes controversial voice of Republican opposition against then-President Obama, whose administration he once compared to Richard Nixon’s. “[Michelle Obama] didn’t like it when I railed against Obamacare,” said Steele, recounting a brief meeting with the First Family. “[Her expression] was dead-cold. I was in a doghouse.” 

Despite massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterm elections, Steele’s tenure was dogged by poor relations with party elders, recurring gaffes, and accusations of frivolous spending. His opponents organized against him; in January 2011, the RNC voted to replace Steele with then-Wisconsin GOP chair Reince Priebus. Steele then moved to MSNBC, where he was critical of the Trump administration, and in 2020 endorsed Joe Biden for president.