By Ilya Tsukanov /Sputnik News/ – The Republican Party kicked off its convention on Monday, with the four day event, pared down drastically due to the coronavirus pandemic, taking place partly online, and partly in the real world in Charlotte, North Carolina and Washington, DC.
The Republican Party formally gathered to nominate President Donald Trump as their candidate for the November election, with delegates from states carrying out a formal roll call on Monday.
Trump secured more than the 1,276 delegates needed to win at about 12:10 pm eastern time as the roll call continued.
Trump won an estimated 2,339 delegates in the GOP primary elections between February and August, with his only opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, securing a lone delegate. Trump’s other potential challengers, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh and former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford dropped out of the race last year before voting began.
2020 Republican National Convention
Traditionally, both parties favour nominating the incumbent when their party is in control of the presidency. The last time that a president wasn’t nominated for a second term was Lyndon Johnson, who pulled out of the race for the nomination in 1968 owing to health concerns and intense infighting within the Democratic Party.
Only 336 of the over 2,000 total delegates were present in person in Charlotte, with the rest joining the convention via a videolink.
Republicans picked Mike Pence as their candidate for Vice President earlier Monday.
The Democratic Party held its convention last week, formally nominating former Vice President Joe Biden and former California Senator Kamala Harris for president and vice president, respectively. Like the Republican convention, the Democrats’ convention was held mostly online.
The Republican convention is expected to continue until August 27, with Trump and members of his family expected to make repeated appearances before he makes a formal nomination acceptance speech on Thursday evening from the White House. Other Republican politicians, as well as prominent party supporters and activists, are also expected to give speeches.
