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Katon Dawson loses out in GOP leadership race |
WASHINGTON — S.C. Republican chairman Katon Dawson lost his bid to head the national GOP Friday when Republican leaders from across the country elected former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as their first black chairman.Dawson outlasted three other candidates before losing to Steele in the sixth round of daylong voting.“I want to congratulate Michael Steele on his election as chairman of the Republican National Committee,” Dawson said afterward. ”He can count on my support. Today’s hard-fought election among five honorable candidates for chairman was a testament to the strength of our cause and our ideals.”Dawson’s supporters had been stunned when the second African-American candidate, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, withdrew after the fourth round and asked his supporters to back Steele.Blackwell, widely viewed as more conservative than Steele and closer in political principles to Dawson, denied afterward he had chosen race over philosophy.
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