RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day: RNC Stands with Donald J. Trump

TAMPA, Florida — Following a speech by Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence at the Republican Party of Florida Victory Dinner in Tampa, RNC co-chairman Sharon Day declared that the RNC stands with “business man” and “principled individual” Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

Day said of the RNC, they “know that the way that we are going to make American great again is with the leadership of those two individuals at the top.”

Day also called media reports to the contrary “nonsense” and clarified recent news that the Republican National Committee (RNC) diverted funds away from Trump.

RNC co-chairman Day thanked many people, including “all of those out there doing the heavy lifting, our presidential candidate Donald J Trump and our vice president candidate Gov. Mike Pence.”

“And I want to clear it up,” said Day. “Now if you believe the media, you would believe the Republican National Committee is no longer supporting Donald J Trump. I’m gonna tell ya, that is total nonsense.”

“We stand with our presidential candidate, a presidential candidate that got more votes in any primary as any Republican in our lifetime, in our history,” Day continued. “We stand with Mr. Donald J. Trump and Gov. Mike Pence because we know the way to the future. We know that the way that we are going to make American great again is with the leadership of those two individuals at the top.”

She went on to speak of recent news reports regarding the RNC’s financial support of Trump:

And we also know that if you heard that we’ve diverted some funds of the Republican National Committee, well that’s not true. What we did is we transferred funds to the Senatorial Committee and to the Congressional Committee because we don’t just want the White House, we want the White House, we want the Senate and we’re gonna keep the Congress just as we’ve done because we have big things to do and it’s gonna take Marco Rubio and all our congressmen from Florida to make sure that we get it done. So we transferred those funds to make a difference and we’re proud of it.

On October 8, the Wall Street Journal reported that RNC National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus “told party officials to redirect funds away from nominee Donald Trump to down-ballot candidates, according to an official informed of the decision. In practical terms, the party will be working to mobilize voters who support GOP House and Senate candidates regardless of their position on the presidential race.” The report stated that the RNC would push re-election of Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida, including among those voters who support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Day said:

[We]continue to reach out across, especially in Florida, making more calls than have been made in any state, knocking on more doors than we have done in any other state. The friends and all of us in Florida have made a huge difference and showed the rest of the country how you elect individuals, not just in the federal government, but in our communities. We want to make sure that the funding, that the money is there, that the data is there, that the tools are there, that everything is built in place to elect Republicans up and down the ballot in every single one of our communities and that’s what we’re doing together.

“This election cycle is a pretty simple choice,” said Day, who went on the draw a distinction between a vote for Trump versus a vote for Clinton. “We have an opportunity to elect a man by the name of Donald J. Trump, a business man, a principled individual, a Gov. Mike Pence, a principled conservative individual, we have the opportunity to do that. Or we have the opportunity to not. I don’t know about you, but that’s not an opportunity for me, because we cannot ever allow Hillary Clinton ever to step in that White House ever again folks. Ever. Ever.”

Rubio also addressed the Florida Republican Party dinner with complimentary words for Pence who had spoken earlier in the evening. Rubio lost his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the primary to Trump and later opted to jump into the race to retain his Senate seat.

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana