Longtime Trump ally formally succeeds Whatley as Republican Party chair

Gruters, a Florida state senator, RNC committee member from the Sunshine State, the national party committee's treasurer, and a longtime Trump ally, succeeded chair Michael Whatley, who stepped down as he runs for the Senate in North Carolina in the blockbuster race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.

Gruters, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, emphasized that "this is the president's party. This is the president's vision, overall. The party fully embraces the president, and we're gonna ride the president all the way to victory in the midterms, and we are going to win big."

And Whatley, joining Gruters in the interview, said that during his tenure as chair "we have transformed the RNC, basically the way that President Trump has transformed the Republican Party. And we are now the party of the working-class men and women all across this country."

Trump, as he endorsed Whatley in the North Carolina Senate race a month ago, praised Gruters.

"I have somebody who will do a wonderful job as the Chairman of the RNC," Trump wrote in a social media post. "His name is, Joe Gruters, and he will have my Complete and Total Endorsement."

The president called Gruters, who co-chaired Trump's 2016 campaign in Florida, a "Fierce Advocate for our Movement" and a "MAGA warrior who has been with us from the very beginning." 

And Trump said that the 48-year-old Gruters, who served as Florida GOP chair from 2019 to 2023, had "helped us deliver massive and historic Victories across the state."

"He has won Republican races, gotten out the vote, and protected the vote in Florida," the insider, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said.

Gruters praised his predecessor as an "absolute workhorse" and "a big reason" fo the party's electoral success in last year's elections.

Asked about the top three items on his to-do list as he succeeds Whatley, Gruters told Fox News "number one, it's still election integrity. That's the most important thing, protecting the vote. And it's about winning the midterms. It's about going back to the fundamentals of registering voters and turning our voters out."

The DNC took aim at Gruters as he ascended to the RNC chair.

"Incoming RNC Chair Joe Gruters is just who Donald Trump would want for the position: a parrot for his own extremist agenda. Gruters is bringing his worst ideas from Florida to the national stage - from ripping away health care to banning abortion - along with his wacky and dangerous conspiracy theories," DNC deputy rapid response director Jaelin O'Halloran argued in a statement.

The ascension of Gruters to RNC chair is the latest sign of Trump's complete control over the national party committee.

Following his election as president in 2016, Trump chose then-Michigan GOP chair Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair, and supported her re-election in 2019 and again in 2021. Then-former President Trump stayed neutral as McDaniel won election to an unprecedented fourth two-year term at the beginning of 2023.

But Trump, souring on McDaniel, orchestrated her ouster a little over a year later and backed Whatley as her replacement. Whatley was elected chair at an RNC meeting in Houston in March of last year, as Trump cruised towards clinching the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was elected co-chair.

Whatley announced his Senate bid on July 31, four days after Democrats landed their top recruit, former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper.

"President Trump deserves an ally, and North Carolina deserves a strong conservative voice in the Senate," Whatley emphasized as he spoke to a crowd of family, friends and supporters as he declared his candidacy. "I will be that voice."

Whatley called it "the marquee Senate race in the entire country."

 "We will be the most expensive Senate race in the history of the country," Whatley told Fox News Digital. "But, look, we will be able to raise the resources we need to tell our story, and we are going to work all 100 counties here across North Carolina to be able to tell our story.

Gruters, an accountant who has spent a nearly a decade in the Florida legislature, is close with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, a fellow Floridian who was co-campaign manager of Trump's 2024 presidential bid.

And Gruters has often clashed with the state's two-term Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.

Gruters backed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race.