California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin said Wednesday she will not run for reelection next spring, after the party's losses in last week's midterms, The Sacramento Bee reported in an account published by The Mercury News.
"This decision comes with tremendous gratitude and pride in what we have built. Leadership is not simply about holding a position. It is about leaving an organization stronger, better equipped, and more prepared for the future than when you found it," Rankin wrote to delegates Wednesday night. "Although I will not seek another term, my commitment to California, our Republican candidates, and the principles that brought me into public service remains unchanged."
Delegates elected Rankin chair in March 2025, making her the first Black woman to lead the state party. She had been vice chair and a state surrogate for President Trump in 2016 and 2024. Her term lasts through Feb. 28, 2027, after which the party will elect a new chair.
The Bee reported that the GOP's legislative superminority could shrink further after Republican Assembly members Greg Wallis, Tri Ta, Leticia Castillo, Jeff Gonzalez and Josh Hoover, and Sen. Tony Strickland, lost their seats. As of Thursday morning, Assembly Minority Leader Alexandra Macedo and Senate Minority Leader Roger Niello faced razor-thin margins in their own races, the paper said.
In her letter, Rankin floated Strickland, who the Bee said has begun telling members he would run for chair, as a possible replacement. Outgoing Sen. Shannon Grove and former gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton have also been mentioned, according to a state GOP insider granted anonymity to discuss internal talks.
After taking the chair last year, Rankin pledged to keep the party "on offense" following Republican wins when Trump returned to the White House in 2024. Fundraising later withered after legislative leaders severed a bundling agreement with the state party and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio urged donors to give to his Reform California organization directly, the Bee reported. The party briefly hired Tiffany Qualls as finance director for four months and is suing her to recoup donor data it says she took before her firing in June. Qualls filed a counter-complaint alleging racial and gender-based harassment by party officials, including Rankin, then asked last week to withdraw that counter-complaint after a judge struck it down for lack of good cause, according to court records cited by the Bee.
Rankin's announcement does not immediately change who runs the party. It does start a months-long succession fight in a California GOP coming off a difficult midterm, with legislative ranks thinner and the race for chair already attracting familiar names.