2020 Republican National Convention: Difference between revisions
U.S. political event held in Charlotte, North Carolina
The 2020 Republican National Convention in which delegates of the United States Republican Party selected the party’s nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election, was held from August 24 to 27, 2020.[1]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States,[2] plans to convene a traditional large-scale convention were cancelled a few weeks before the convention. Primary venues included the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., with many other remote venues also being utilized. The convention nominated President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for reelection.
The convention was originally scheduled to be held at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, but on June 2, 2020, Trump and the Republican National Committee pulled the event from Charlotte after the North Carolina state government declined to agree to Trump’s demands to allow the convention to take place with a full crowd and without public health measures designed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as social distancing and face coverings.[3] Trump then announced that the convention would be moved to Jacksonville, Florida, but subsequently cancelled the Jacksonville convention plans on July 23.[2] Some convention proceedings, albeit dramatically reduced in scale, were still held in Charlotte,[4] such as “small, formal business meetings.”[5] Most speeches were delivered at Washington, D.C.’s Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Other events and festivities, including Trump’s acceptance speech, were held remotely at various locations, including Fort McHenry and the White House.[6] By tradition, because Republicans held the presidency, their convention was conducted after the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was held from August 17–20.[7] Another contrast to typical conventions was the prerecorded nature of much of the convention’s content. Former White House director of management and administration Marcia Lee Kelly was named convention president and CEO in April 2019.[8][9]
The convention utilized federal government properties as locations for events, and Trump displayed official acts of government (issuing a pardon and the presiding over a naturalization during convention broadcasts). This was a break from political norms and attracted criticism. Numerous aspects of the convention were cited as potentially violating the Hatch Act of 1939. As part of a later settlement with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, Lynne Patton, a Trump-appointed administrator in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, confessed to violating the Hatch Act of 1939.
Trump faced only token opposition in the Republican primaries and caucuses, and unofficially clinched the Republican nomination in March 2020, when he reached 1,276 pledged delegates.[10] On November 3, 2020, Trump and Pence went on to lose the general election to the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Refusing to concede, Trump and his allies led various attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, which were unsuccessful in preventing Biden from becoming the 46th president of the United States.
Background[edit]
Allocation of pledged delegates[edit]
The base number of pledged delegates that were allocated to each of the 50 states were 10 at-large delegates, plus 3 district delegates for each congressional district. A fixed number of pledged delegates were allocated to Washington D.C., and each of the five U.S. territories. Bonus delegates are awarded to each state and territory based on whether it had elected (if applicable) through December 31, 2019 (after the 2019 off-year elections): a Republican governor, Republican majorities in either one or both chambers in its state legislature, one or two Republicans to the U.S. Senate, or a Republican majority in its delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. A state was also awarded additional bonus delegates if it was won by the Republican candidate, Trump, in the 2016 presidential election.[11]
Planning and organizing of the convention[edit]
Las Vegas, Nevada, and Charlotte, North Carolina, were mentioned as possible locations for the 2020 RNC due to their locations within “swing states.” Neither had ever hosted a Republican National Convention, although Charlotte had hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention. A Charlotte television station, WBTV, reported that Charlotte, Las Vegas, and “another unnamed city in Texas, which sources at the meeting said were likely either Dallas or San Antonio” were finalists to host the convention.[12]
Other sources named Dallas, Texas,[13] and New York City, New York,[14] as…
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