Growing group of 'shadow' Republicans move to reclaim GOP from MAGA and 'madman' Trump

A growing group of Republicans who’ve labeled themselves as a “shadow RNC” are working to reclaim their party from President Donald Trump and his “MAGA takeover” of the GOP, The Hill reported on Tuesday.

“We’re concerned about the authoritarian takeover of our country by a madman who sees himself as a king,” said Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, speaking at the group’s conference in Maryland on Friday.

That group, officially known as Our Republican Legacy (ORL), is hoping to build a coalition strong enough to take back control of the GOP in the hopes of blocking a MAGA candidate from becoming the Republican presidential nominee in 2028, with Vice President JD Vance as their first target.

“JD Vance, I think, is irredeemable,” said Chris Vance, the former chair of the Washington State GOP, speaking at the conference.

The ORL has grown to having 25 state chairs, and is working to elect its members to local offices across the nation, all in the hopes of influencing the electoral process in their favor, The Hill reported.

The organization is hedging its bets on Americans’ increasing focus on affordability, noting that cultural issues that the Trump administration has leaned into – things like “overturning Roe v. Wade” and pushing back on “transgender surgeries,” one ORL member said – have already “been addressed,” The Hill reported.

“If that’s the case, economic issues and other things come to the forefront again,” said Merrill Matthews, the Texas state chair for ORL and policy analyst.