Sigal Chattah is new national rep to the Republican National Committee

Attorney Sigal Chattah was elected Republican national committeewoman at the state Republican Central Committee’s meeting over the weekend, and she could play a large role in electing the national party’s next chair.

Chattah defeated retired attorney Pauline Lee by 75 votes at Saturday’s meeting in Ely, with 222 central committee members voting for Chattah and 147 voting for Lee.

“It’s fantastic,” Chattah said. “It’s going to be a good, a great time to strengthen the party. I think that I have a lot to offer to strengthen the party.”

Chattah, a Las Vegas-based attorney who lost her race for attorney general in November to Democratic incumbent Aaron Ford, decided to run for national committeewoman after former Committeewoman Michele Fiore was appointed as a justice of the peace in Nye County. The national committeewoman is responsible for representing the Nevada Republican Party at the national level as well as fundraise for the state party.

As national committeewoman, Chattah’s focus is to fundraise, strengthen the party and ensure that Republican candidates have a “party that they can rely on for support,” she said.

Chattah had some endorsements from major national figures, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Richard Grenell, former acting director of U.S. National Intelligence, while Lee received major statewide endorsements, including an endorsement from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.

“I am really honored to have secured the support of so many central committee members in such a short time period,” Lee said. “I remain very committed to the Republican Party and its values.”

The race for national committeewoman in Nevada gained some national attention due to the precarious position of the chairwoman of the National Republican Committee, Ronna McDaniel, who is facing a tough re-election in the Republican National Committee. McDaniel is going up against Harmeet Dhillon, the RNC committeewoman from California, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, according to Politico.

Chattah will join Nevada’s national Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid and other members of the RNC on Jan. 27 in Dana Point, California, to elect the next chair. Chattah said she has pledged her support to Dhillon.

“I know what she brings to the table as an attorney and as a constitutionalist,” Chattah said. “My support of Harmeet is based on how I’ve seen her vertically integrate policy, the law and fundraising, which I believe makes her the best candidate for the job.”

At the Nevada Republican Central Committee meeting over the weekend, a resolution was introduced on the floor to issue a vote of no-confidence for McDaniel, but it was essentially killed because of the lack of the support to vote on the resolution, Chattah said.

Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald said both McDaniel and Dhillon, who represented the Nevada Republican Party at one point, are friends of his, and he’ll find out in two weeks who wins.

“It’s going to be a long two weeks with everyone campaigning,” he said.

In regard to Chattah’s win, McDonald said Nevada was in a great situation between the two candidates and would have been in “great hands either way.”

The meeting and the large turnout shows that the Nevada Republican Party is “moving in the right direction,” McDonald said.

“I think at the end of the day it was great that we came together,” he said.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.