Lara Trump, former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law to the president, opened Friday's meeting by phone. She stopped short of calling for a Ramaswamy endorsement, but reminded the 66-member committee that the GOP’s motto headed into 2026 is, “Unite, unite, unite!”

Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy won the Ohio Republican Party's endorsement a year before the 2026 primary.