Joe Gruters, named to head the Republican Party’s new Committee on Election Integrity, openly disputed the results of the 2020 presidential election. On his Facebook page in December, Gruters, head of the GOP in Florida, tagged a post highlighting his role as a presidential elector with the hashtag #StopTheSteal. A later post relayed information about traveling to Washington for the January 6 events that preceded the assault on the Capitol. “Local party organizations are even more radical under Gruters’ leadership,” an Orlando newspaper noted.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that the committee was created to “ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent.” Its full roster of 24 members has yet to be announced, except for Gruters and Ashley MacLeay, a national committeewoman from the District of Columbia.