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Chicago Cubs Co-Owner Todd Ricketts Named New RNC Finance Chairman

Then-President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, after they met in Bedminster, N.J., during the transition in November 2016.
Drew Angerer
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Getty Images
Then-President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with Todd Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, after they met in Bedminster, N.J., during the transition in November 2016.

The Republican National Committee has named Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts its new finance chairman days after its former fundraising chief, real estate and casino magnate Steve Wynn, stepped down amid allegations of sexual assault.

"His incredible leadership and proven track record of results will continue to grow support for our party and ensure we have the resources needed to deliver Republican victories in 2018 and beyond," RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said of Ricketts.

"I have wanted to be helpful to President Trump and the Republican Party since our successful 2016 elections," Ricketts added in a statement.

Ricketts had been nominated by Trump last year to be the deputy commerce secretary but withdrew after determining he couldn't untangle his family's business interests from potential conflicts of interest.

Ricketts comes from a family with deep roots in conservative politics. His father, who founded TD Ameritrade, and mother have been major GOP donors. His brother, Pete, is currently the Republican governor of Nebraska.

Ricketts and his family actually opposed Trump during the presidential primaries, first supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and then Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The family later funded an anti-Trump PAC in hopes of stopping him from winning the Republican nomination, prompting a threatening tweet from Trump in 2016.

Once Trump became the Republican nominee, the Ricketts family supported him. And on Wednesday, Trump praised the selection of Ricketts.

"Todd will be a great addition to the Republican National Committee, and I couldn't be happier he is lending his tremendous leadership to our party," the president said.

Wynn, the previous RNC fundraising chairman, stepped down over the weekend after a report from the Wall Street Journal that he had pressured a manicurist who worked at his Las Vegas hotel to have sex with him, which was part of a "decades-long pattern" of sexual indiscretions.

Wynn, a close friend of Trump's, has denied the allegations.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jessica Taylor is a political reporter with NPR based in Washington, DC, covering elections and breaking news out of the White House and Congress. Her reporting can be heard and seen on a variety of NPR platforms, from on air to online. For more than a decade, she has reported on and analyzed House and Senate elections and is a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politics and is a senior contributor to The Cook Political Report.