The Republican National Committee officially embraced Mitt Romney as the party’s presumptive nominee on Wednesday morning after Mr. Romney claimed his new title in an energetic speech Tuesday night.
Reince R. Priebus, the chairman of the committee, said in a statement sent out early Wednesday morning that the party organization and its resources were now at the disposal of Mr. Romney’s campaign.
“Governor Romney’s strong performance and delegate count at this stage of the primary process has made him our party’s presumptive nominee,” Mr. Priebus said. “In order to maximize our efforts I have directed my staff at the R.N.C. to open lines of communication with the Romney campaign.”
The statement ends the committee’s neutral role in the Republican primaries despite the fact that Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Representative Ron Paul of Texas, are still, technically, in the race to be the nominee.
But officials at the committee said that it became clear — if not technically official — that Mr. Romney would be the nominee after he swept five large primaries Tuesday night.
Officials said the shift, which was planned with top aides in Mr. Romney’s Boston headquarters, will lead to what they called a “full synchronization of both operations,” with the goal of making the most of the resources in both places.
Brian Jones, a veteran Republican strategist who has worked on several presidential campaigns, will be the chief liaison between the campaign and the committee and will split his time between Washington and Boston, said Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the committee. Mr. Jones, a former committee staff member, is very close to Matt Rhoades, Mr. Romney’s campaign manager, and has been advising the campaign for several months.
Ward Baker, a Tennessee-based political consultant, will serve as another go-between for the political operations at the committee and the campaign. Kevin Madden, a former spokesman for Mr. Romney, will also work with the committee, advising the communications team and becoming the campaign’s chief surrogate on television in Washington.
In addition, two veteran Republican operatives and longtime Romney advisers — Ben Ginsberg and Ron Kaufman — will offer strategic advice and help coordinate the efforts of the two organizations, Mr. Spicer said Wednesday.
Four years ago, Senator John McCain held a high-profile campaign event at the committee headquarters a day after clinching the nomination. His campaign installed a loyalist as the deputy chairman of the committee that day.
Both efforts by Mr. McCain were intended to demonstrate that the committee was now working for him — not for President George W. Bush. In the months that followed, however, tensions between staffers sometimes flared.
Mr. Romney’s campaign is trying to avoid a similar fate. Mr. Priebus and his top aides will continue to run the committee. In an interview last week, Mr. Priebus emphasized that the two organizations would merge completely, but without officials being removed or replaced.
“It’s my intention to have a seamless and complete merger between the presumptive nominee and the Republican National Committee,” Mr. Priebus said. “That means political, communications, fund-raising, research and the chairman’s office, along with the governor’s main operational team, are completely merged.”