There’s a lot of new buzz in the media that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is aiming to be the next head of the Republican National Committee.
TIME Magazine got its hands on a copy of an email that lays out part of the former GOP presidential candidate’s pitch. It suggests the businesswoman—who has previously served on the RNC herself—is planning a lot of travel around the country.
It states:
The past few months Carly has been helping out with major races around the country, I know she is planning to reach out to your party chairman in the next week or so, just to touch base and see if there is any way she could be helpful to Republicans in the [Insert State or Territory] this Fall.
TIME also reports two domain names were purchased last month at the same time: CarlyForChair.com and CarlyForRNC.com.
Current Chairman Reince Priebus’ third term will expire in January, but he is expected to seek an unprecedented fourth term when the RNC gathers for its winter meetings. It has been widely speculated that much of Priebus’ support for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has been based on an agreement that Priebus would be allowed to continue leading the RNC.
Traditionally, a newly elected President of the United States gets to handpick his party chairman.
In other words, the most likely way for Fiorina to become RNC chairwoman—the first in 40 years (Mary Louise Smith of Iowa was the first and only woman to chair the RNC from 1974 to 1977)—would be if Donald Trump loses the November election. It remains to be seen how GOP voters might react to someone who didn’t support his campaign in the days that follow his opponent’s inauguration.
Although she has pledged to “do everything I can to prevent Hillary Clinton from winning in November,” Fiorina has stopped short of actually endorsing or making any pledge of support to Trump. She also briefly served as an unofficial “running mate” in the waning days of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’ presidential bid.
The same Ted Cruz who was booed off the stage at the Republican National Convention and who’s now more popular with Democrat voters than Republicans.
Regardless, it is likely the 168 members of the RNC will be looking to make significant changes if the party suffers a third consecutive presidential election loss, and Priebus would likely be the first to go. Fiorina’s efforts to get down-ballot candidates elected in all 50 states, combined with her past RNC connections, might be enough to propel her to the job.
Fiorina’s spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, has declined to comment on the reports.
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