By CAROLINE HOWARD
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 03: Former Republica...
Reince Priebus, Wisconsin Republican Party chair, was elected RNC chairman today. Priebus was the favorite of the four challengers to incumbent Chair Michael Steele from the get-go, winning on the seventh and final round of voting.
His win wasn't a big surprise, nor was the outcome that the two female candidates, Maria Cino (pictured), a former RNC deputy director and endorsed by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and former RNC co-chair Ann Wagner, lost.
Garance Franke-Ruta, who oversees politics coverage for TheAtlantic.com, observes:
Still no elected woman. Mary Louise Smith is the only woman to have served as RNC Chair; she was appointed to the position by President Gerald Ford and served from 1974-1977. Her appointment was very much a reflection of the times, in that her tenure predated the emergence of the Christian right and the conservative turn in the Republican Party, making it possible for a woman who supported abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment to serve in the party leadership role. No woman has ever been elected to the RNC chairmanship by committee members, and this year was no exception. Cino, for her part, was seen as a liberal among the candidates for RNC chair despite being firmly against abortion rights and supporting the party's opposition to gay marriage. Steele's support for Cino during the balloting only strengthened that impression.
The RNC has a rule, under debate, that the gender of the co-chair must be different from the chair's. Sharon Day, Florida National Committeewoman won, defeating Jan Larimer from Wyoming.
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