Michael Steele bested South Carolina Republican party Chairman Katon Dawson 91 to 77

The Republican National Committee elected Michael Steele as its first African American chairman today in Washington.

On the sixth and final ballot Steele bested South Carolina Republican party Chairman Katon Dawson 91 to 77.

Steele had previously served as the chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, the state's lieutenant governor, and the GOP nominee in the Maryland Senate race in 2006.

Steele was born on October 19, 1958, at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George`s County. He spent his childhood in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest Washington,D.C. which Steele has described as a small, stable and racially integrated community that insulated him from some of the problems elsewhere in the city.

Steele grew up in a Democratic household. However, as a young man he switched to the Republican Party.

Katon Edwards Dawson (born Feb 29, 1956) is an American politician from the state of South Carolina, current chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and was a 2009 candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In August 2007 Dawson drew national attention for his decision to move the 2008 South Carolina Republican presidential primary from Feb. 2 to January 29, preserving the state's "first in the South" primary. In every election since 1980, the winner of the South Carolina primary has won the Republican presidential nomination.