Nominating meetings of the US Republican Party
The
Republican National Convention
(
RNC
) is a series of
presidential nominating conventions
held every four years since 1856 by the
Republican Party
in the
United States
. They are administered by the
Republican National Committee
. The goal of the Republican National Convention is to officially nominate and confirm a candidate for
president
and
vice president
, adopt a comprehensive
party platform
and unify the party, as well as publicize and launch the fall campaign.
Delegates
from all fifty
U.S. states
and from American dependencies and territories, including
Puerto Rico
and the
Virgin Islands
, attend the convention and cast their votes. Like the
Democratic National Convention
, the Republican National Convention marks the formal end of the
primary election
period and the start of the
general election
season. In 2020, all parties replaced the usual conventions with short online programs.
History
[
edit
]
The Republican Party was formally organized on a national basis at a meeting in Lafayette Hall in
Pittsburgh
on February 22?23, 1856, during which the first
Republican National Committee
was elected.
First nominating convention
[
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]
The first Republican National Convention was the
1856 Republican National Convention
, held from June 17 to 19, 1856, at
Musical Fund Hall
at 808
Locust Street
in
Philadelphia
. At the 1856 Republican National Convention, the party nominated
John C. Fremont
, a
U.S. Senator
from
California
for
president
and
William L. Dayton
, a former U.S. Senator from
New Jersey
for
vice president
.
1864 convention
[
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]
The
1864 event
, with the
American Civil War
raging, was branded as the "
National Union
Convention" since it included Democrats who remained loyal to the Union and nominated
Andrew Johnson
, who had been elected Governor of Tennessee as a Democrat, for vice president. By 1868 the usual Republican name was restored.
[1]
20th century
[
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]
The
1912 Republican National Convention
saw the business-oriented faction supporting
William Howard Taft
turn back a challenge from former President
Theodore Roosevelt
, who boasted broader popular support and even won a primary in Taft's home state of
Ohio
. Roosevelt would run on the
Progressive Party
ticket, splitting the Republicans and thereby handing the election to Democrat
Woodrow Wilson
. The
1924 Republican National Convention
made history by being the first GOP convention to give women equal representation. This was the first time the Republican Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio. It was also the first time any convention was broadcast over radio ? to nine cities through a special link over long-distance telephone lines.
[2]
The Republican National Committee approved a rule providing for a national committee-man and a national committee-woman from each state. Incumbent President
Calvin Coolidge
was formally nominated and went on to win the general election. The convention nominated Illinois Governor
Frank Lowden
for vice president on the second ballot, but he declined the nomination. This is the only time a nominee refused to accept a vice presidential nomination.
The Republicans returned to the city in 1936 in the cavernous
Cleveland Public Auditorium
. Former President
Herbert Hoover
addressed the delegates on the second day of the convention. On the third,
Alf Landon
of Kansas (who did not attend) was nominated for president; Colonel
Frank Knox
was nominated as the vice presidential candidate.
[3]
Landon and Knox were defeated in a landslide by
Franklin D. Roosevelt
and
John Nance Garner
. Knox subsequently served as Secretary of the Navy in the administration of Roosevelt. The
1940 Republican National Convention
was the first national convention of any party broadcast on live
television
. It was carried by an early version of the
NBC
Television Network and consisted of flagship W2XBS (now
WNBC
) in
New York City
, W3XE (now
KYW-TV
) in
Philadelphia
and W2XB (now
WRGB
) in
Schenectady
and
Albany
.
The growing importance of primaries became evident at the
1964 Republican National Convention
in
San Francisco
, where U.S. Senator
Barry Goldwater
from Arizona won the nomination, easily turning away Pennsylvania governor
William Scranton
and others more favorable to the party establishment.
At the
1972 Republican National Convention
,
Pat Nixon
became the first First Lady since
Eleanor Roosevelt
and the first Republican First Lady to deliver an address to the convention delegates.
[4]
It is now common practice for the presidential candidate's spouse to deliver an address to the delegates. Also in 1972, the placing of "
favorite son
" candidates' names into nomination was banned, requiring at least five states' requests to do so. In recent years, only one candidate's name has been put into nomination, and challengers have been put under intense pressure to withdraw in order for the vote to be unanimous.
An exception was when former California Governor
Ronald Reagan
nearly toppled incumbent President
Gerald Ford
at the
1976 Republican National Convention
in
Kansas City
. Ford was in office for only two years before he was challenged by Reagan, who was a fellow Republican. Reagan was on record saying that fellow Republicans should never talk badly about one another, but Reagan's view had since changed, but the power of incumbency was too much for Reagan to overcome. This was the last GOP convention where the outcome of the nomination was in doubt. After the Republican National Convention, the pressure was on Ford to cut away the factionalism in his Republican Party.
Pat Buchanan
delivered a speech enthusiastically endorsing the conservative side of the
culture war
in American society at the
1992 Republican National Convention
in
Houston
. It was widely criticized for supposedly alienating liberal and moderate voters who might otherwise have voted for the moderate nominee and then-incumbent President
George H. W. Bush
. Division in the party was evident too at the
1996 Republican National Convention
, at which more moderate party members such as California governor
Pete Wilson
and Massachusetts governor
William Weld
unsuccessfully sought to remove the
Human Life Amendment
plank from the party platform. The event at the
San Diego Convention Center
remains the last Republican National Convention to be held in a convention center complex; all others since then have been held at sports stadiums or arenas.
21st century
[
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]
The Republican Party chose
Cleveland
again as the site for the
2016 Republican National Convention
. The convention was held in
Quicken Loans Arena
, home of the
Cleveland Cavaliers
. There may have been political considerations in the selection, since no Republican has won the presidency without winning
Ohio
since
Abraham Lincoln
in the
1860 election
.
Cuyahoga County
has voted 19 times for Republicans and 21 times for the Democratic candidate since 1856. However, the Democrats had carried the county for the past 40 years.
[5]
The party chose
Charlotte, North Carolina
as the location for its
2020 Republican National Convention
, but pulled out at the last minute. President
Donald Trump
announced the convention would be moved to
Jacksonville, Florida
, but subsequently cancelled the Jacksonville convention plans amidst
COVID-19 pandemic
concerns and complications on July 23. The convention proceedings were then held remotely from various locations, with the final day taking place on the
South Lawn
of the
White House
.
Delegations
[
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]
The party's presidential nominee is chosen primarily by pledged delegates, which are in turn selected through a series of individual
state caucuses and primary elections
. The size of delegations to the Republican National Convention, for each state, territory, or other political subdivision, are described by Rule 14 of the party's national rules.
[6]
The party does not use superdelegates as does the Democratic Party, and all delegates are pledged to a candidate in some fashion.
The Republican Party's rules leave discretion to the states in choosing how to award their respective pledged delegates to the candidates. Some states may use a statewide
winner-take-all
method, where the primary candidate who receives the most popular votes in a state gets all of its pledged delegates. Other states may use a
proportional representation
system, where the pledged delegates are instead distributed to the candidates in proportion to its votes.
[7]
[8]
- Pledged party leaders
Three leaders of each state, territory, and Washington D.C.'s Republican Party (its national committeeman, its national committeewoman and its chairperson) are automatically nominated as pledged delegates to the national convention.
[6]
- Base allocation formula for the 50 U.S. states
Since 2012, the number of pledged delegates initially allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states is: Ten at-large delegates, plus three district delegates for each of the state's congressional districts.
[6]
[9]
As each state has at least one congressional district, the minimum number of delegates from this allocation for any state is 13.
- Base allocations to other jurisdictions
Jurisdictions with
non-voting congressmembers
are instead given a fixed amount of pledged at-large delegates. In 2020,
American Samoa
,
Guam
,
Northern Mariana Islands
, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands
each get six at-large delegates;
Puerto Rico
receives 20; and
Washington, D.C.
, gets 16.
[6]
- Bonus delegates
The Republican Party awards bonus pledged delegates to each jurisdiction based on two main factors (where applicable): whether its
electoral college
votes went to the Republican candidate in the last presidential election, and on how well the state party has done in electing Republicans to state and congressional elections.
[6]
- For each state that cast at least a majority of its
Electoral College
votes for the Republican nominee in the 2016 election, that state earns an additional four and one-half delegates at-large for the 2020 convention, plus a number of the delegates at-large equal to 60 percent of the number of electoral votes of that state; all fractions are rounded upwards. If Washington DC had gone Republican instead of Democratic in 2016, it itself would have received an additional four and one-half delegates at-large, plus a number of delegates at-large equal to 30 percent of its base allocation of 16 at-large delegates (rounding up to 10 bonus delegates).
[6]
- States and territories get additional bonus at-large delegates in 2020 (where applicable) based on whether it has elected Republicans to the following state and federal offices in the 2016 elections or at any subsequent election (whether the
2018 midterms
, or the
2017
or
2019
off-year elections) held prior to January 1, 2020:
[6]
- Republican governor
: 1 additional at-large delegate
[6]
- Republican majorities in its state legislature
: 1 for each chamber that has a Republican majority and has a Republican presiding officer (if the presiding officer is elected by the chamber); maximum 2 if Republicans control all chambers of the state legislature
[6]
- At least one-half Republican membership in its delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives
: 1
[6]
- Republican membership in the U.S. Senate
: 1 for each Republican senator; maximum 2 if both the state's senators are Republican
[6]
The bonus delegates thus reward states that vote for Republican candidates and punish those which do not. As examples, for the 2020 Convention using California and Texas (the two most populous states, California being a Democrat stronghold and Texas a Republican one):
- Texas received 34 bonus delegates, winning the available bonus delegates in all five categories:
Donald Trump
won a majority of the state's electoral votes in the 2016 election (36 with two faithless electors, earning it 28 bonus delegates as the delegate formula does not take those into account),
Greg Abbott
was the Governor (one bonus delegate), the Republicans controlled both chambers of the Texas Legislature (two bonus delegates), the Republicans had over half of Texas' Congressional delegation (one bonus delegate), and both senators –
John Cornyn
and
Ted Cruz
– were Republicans (two bonus delegates).
- Conversely, California received zero bonus delegates:
Joe Biden
won the state's electoral votes,
Gavin Newsom
was the Governor, Democrats controlled both chambers of the California General Assembly, and both senators –
Dianne Feinstein
and
Kamala Harris
– were Democrats
Candidate nomination
[
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]
The candidate nomination process at the convention is governed by Rule 40 of the party's national rules. Under Rule 40(b), a candidate must have the support of a majority of the delegates of at least five delegations in order to get the 2020 nomination.
[6]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Herbert Eaton,
Presidential timber: A history of nominating conventions, 1868-1960
(1964).
- ^
"Encyclopedia of Cleveland History"
. Case Western Reserve University. July 22, 1997
. Retrieved
December 14,
2015
.
- ^
"Encyclopedia of Cleveland History"
. Case Western Reserve University. March 27, 1998
. Retrieved
December 14,
2015
.
- ^
"First Lady Biography: Pat Nixon"
. The National First Ladies Library. 2005
. Retrieved
August 15,
2007
.
- ^
Scherer, Michael (July 8, 2014).
"5 reasons to be delighted and worried about a GOP convention in Cleveland"
.
time.com
. Time, Inc
. Retrieved
December 14,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
"The Rules of the Republican Party"
(PDF)
. Republican National Committee. July 18, 2016
. Retrieved
December 28,
2019
.
- ^
"The Math Behind the Republican Delegate Allocation ? 2020"
.
The Green Papers
. Retrieved
March 5,
2019
.
- ^
"2020 Republican Delegate Binding and Voter Eligibility"
.
The Green Papers
. Retrieved
March 5,
2019
.
- ^
Coleman, Kevin J. (December 30, 2015).
"Report No. R42533, The Presidential Nominating Process and the National Party Conventions, 2016: Frequently Asked Questions"
(PDF)
. Congressional Research Service
. Retrieved
February 12,
2020
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Arterton, F. Christopher.
Media politics: The news strategies of presidential campaigns
(Free Press, 1984).
- Becker, Carl. "The Unit Rule in National Nominating Conventions."
American Historical Review
5.1 (1899): 64?82.
online
- Binkley, Wilfred E.
American political parties: their natural history
(1962)
online
- Carleton, William G. "The revolution in the presidential nominating convention." 'Political Science Quarterly
72.2 (1957): 224-240.
online
- Chester, Edward W
A guide to political platforms
(1977) pp 127?135
online
- Congressional Research Service
.
Presidential Elections in the United States: A Primer.
(Washington, Congressional Research Service, 2000).
- Costain, Anne N. "An analysis of voting in American national nominating conventions, 1940-1976."
American Politics Quarterly
6.1 (1978): 95-120.
- Cowan, Geoffrey.
Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary
(WW Norton & Company, 2016).
- Davis, James W.
National conventions in an age of party reform
(Greenwood, 1983).
- Eaton, Herbert.
Presidential timber: A history of nominating conventions, 1868-1960
(1964)
online
.
- Greenfield, Jeff. "The Convention Speeches that Changed America"
Politico
Aug 15, 2020 online
- Key, Jr., V.O.
Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups
(4th ed. 1958) pp 414?470.
online
- Miles, Edwin A. "The keynote speech at national nominating conventions."
Quarterly journal of Speech
46.1 (1960): 26-31.
- Nichols, Roy F. "It Happens Every Four Years,"
American Heritage
(June 1956) 7#4 pp 20-33.
- Republican National Convention 2004:
Convention History
- Sautter, R. Craig, and Edward M. Burke.
Inside the Wigwam: Chicago Presidential Conventions, 1860-1996
(Loyola Press, 1996).
- Silver, Adam. "Consensus and Conflict: A Content Analysis of American Party Platforms, 1840?1896."
Social Science History
42.3 (2018): 441?467
online
.
External links
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