2020 Republican National Convention

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.[7] Other sources named Dallas, Texas[8] and New York City, New York[9] as prospective hosts, while Las Vegas, Nevada,[10][11] Nashville, Tennessee,[12] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[11] and San Antonio, Texas[8][11] had been under consideration earlier. However, Charlotte was the only city in the country to officially submit a bid for the convention.[13] On July 18, 2018, the RNC Site Selection Committee voted unanimously to recommend holding the convention in Charlotte.[14] The Republican National Committee made the selection official on July 20.[15]

Following President Trump's rally in Greenville, North Carolina, the Charlotte City Council proposed retracting their bid to host the convention. All nine Democrats on the city council voted on a measure calling Trump a racist for his statement ("good people on both sides" of the statue debate).[16] The city met in closed sessions with an attorney regarding their contract to host the convention. A conclusion was made that breaking the contract would likely end with the city being taken to court and forced to host the convention. A resolution was eventually approved by the Charlotte City Council.[17]

Republicans opposed to Trump's presidency announced their intent to host a competing "Convention on founding principles" to occur at the same time as the RNC in Charlotte.[18]

On May 25, 2020, President Trump raised the possibility of moving the convention out of Charlotte after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper stated that the convention would need to be scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After weeks of failed negotiations, on June 2, 2020, Governor Cooper rejected the plans submitted by the Republican Party to host a full-scale convention. President Trump announced via tweet stating “Because of [Cooper], we are now forced to seek another State to host the 2020 Republican National Convention”.

RNC officials stressed that the mechanics of the convention would still be held in Charlotte.[19] "The RNC’s Executive Committee has voted unanimously to allow the official business of the national convention to continue in Charlotte. Many other cities are eager to host the president’s acceptance of the nomination, and we are currently in talks with several of them to host that celebration," said RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens.

RNC officials reportedly considered cities including Atlanta, Dallas, Jacksonville, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Savannah, and even visited some of these cities.[20][21][22]

On June 11, the RNC confirmed that the main events and speeches of the convention would move to Jacksonville, Florida, including President Trump's nomination acceptance speech on August 27 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. However, the convention's official business will remain in Charlotte with a greatly reduced agenda and number of delegates.[23][24]

August 24 will see a portion of the convention hosted in Charlotte, with the following three days of the convention being held in Jacksonville.[25]

The first day of the Convention, as mentioned above, will take place in Charlotte, NC, as the party is contractually obligated to conduct some of its convention business there.[26] Only 300 delegates are to attend.

The National committee voted just to republish[27] the 2016 platform[28], including several unflattering references to the "current president" who four years earlier was Barack Obama. The decision was excoriated by most Republicans,[29] including President Trump.[30]

The base number of pledged delegates that are allocated to each of the 50 states is 10 at-large delegates, plus 3 district delegates for each congressional district. A fixed number of pledged delegates are 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 has 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 is also awarded additional bonus delegates if it carried the Republican candidate, Trump, in the 2016 presidential election.[31]

The table below reflects the presumed delegate count as per the 2020 Republican primaries.

As of November 2019, the following estimated numbers of 2,440 available pledged delegates and 2,550 total delegates may change, as penalty/bonus delegates are awarded to each state and territory based on Republican gains and losses at both the Federal and state level through the 2019 "off-year" elections to the end of December 31, 2019.[32]

• Several states have canceled their regular delegate selection methods in order to give them to the incumbent president.

According to party rules agreed to in July 2016, "a candidate has to win a majority of the vote in eight states to have his or her name placed into nomination at the convention."[33] and votes for candidates who have either suspended their campaigns or withdrawn will not be counted.