Delegates and top party officials from across the country are set to convene for the quadrennial Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, hours after an apparent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Trump, whose campaign declared the convention will go on after a bullet appeared to graze his ear at the rally, will be nominated at the event. But the convention will also be where delegates vote to establish an official party platform.
The shooting, which killed one rallygoer and critically injured two others, has further galvanized Republican support for Trump, with even his staunchest GOP critics denouncing the violence. This year, however, will also feature a number of changes for the Republican gathering that demonstrate the former president’s sway over the party as he mounts a return to the White House.
One of the most prominent changes is the updated party platform, which has been reduced from its 66-page document in 2016 to just 16 pages in 2024. That change, officials say, was done to make the party’s principles more digestible to voters and help streamline campaign messaging.
“The most substantial difference that people will notice is this is a small document,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who served as the chairwoman of the RNC platform committee, told the Washington Examiner. “It has 10 short chapters. They’re not even a page in length, and each of the 10 chapters deals with a separate policy issue and deals with things that the American people are wanting us to do.”
Possibly the greatest policy change included in the updated document is Republicans’ stance on abortion.
The new language states that the GOP opposes late-term abortion but stops short of calling for any constitutional amendments or a national ban on the procedure. Additionally, the platform would establish support for “mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments),” according to the text.
The language is a shift from its 2016 platform that asserted “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.” The 2016 language also called for a “human life amendment to the Constitution,” which is not included in the 2024 document.
The new language has been praised by some anti-abortion groups for establishing a “pro-life position” that still allows Republicans to thwart Democrats, who typically dominate messaging on the issue and at the ballot box.
“We are a pro-life party. We’re going to be a pro-life party. We’re going to be a pro-family party,” Blackburn said. “The language needed to be changed because the goal of setting aside [Roe v. Wade] was achieved, and it recognizes that that goal was achieved after 50 years.”
The new platform was hammered out behind closed doors — another shift from years prior. The process was also not broadcast on C-SPAN as it has in the past, breaking from years of precedent.
Some delegates supported the move, arguing it allowed the party to make decisions without lobbyist interference and in a way that would help boost Trump’s candidacy.
“[The committee] reworked the Republican Party platform instead of all the lobbyists and all these people trying to get their own two cents worth into the platform,” Mike McMullen, a delegate from the state of Pennsylvania, told the Washington Examiner. “President Trump has taken over the Republican Party, has gotten his people in, has cleaned up the language, [and] made it very simple.”
However, not all delegates were happy with the closed-off communication, telling the Washington Examiner they will be looking to ensure party leaders don’t form a habit of making decisions in private.
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“I’m just worried. I want to see what happens behind the scenes and how this stuff happened,” one delegate said. “I want our party to do things out in the open, transparent. That first platform meeting wasn’t that, so I want to be that. I want us to live up to our ideals of being transparent and open and honest.”
The convention is scheduled to begin on Monday and last through Thursday with different themes for each day focusing on the economy, public safety, border security, and international policy.
