Republican National Conventions

The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions of the United States Republican Party since 1856. Administered by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S. presidential election, and to adopt the party platform and rules for the election cycle.

Like the Democratic National Convention, it signifies the end of a presidential primary season and the start of campaigning for a general election. In recent years, the nominee has been known well before the convention.

Some 2,472 delegates have attended the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 18–21 to select the presidential nominee. The winner must carry 1,237—half of the total, plus one. If no single candidate has secured a majority of delegates after the first ballot, a brokered convention results. It has never happened since the 1976 Republican National Convention.

Historically, the convention was the final determinant of the nomination, and often contentious as various factions of party insiders maneuvered to advance their candidates. Since the almost universal adoption of the primary election for selecting delegates in the last quarter of the 20th century, however, the convention's significance has diminished. The national party focuses on the convention as a unity point to bring together a party platform and state parties by having delegates vote on issues, which the nominee can then incorporate into his presidential campaign.

In case of a brokered convention, Rule 40(b) of the 2016 convention rules states that a candidate must have the support of a majority of the delegates of at least eight delegations in order to get the nomination. On the first ballot, delegates from all states and territories except Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and a few from Louisiana must vote for the candidate who won their support on the day of their state's primary or caucus. On the second ballot, 55 percent of the delegates are free to vote for whomever they want. By the third ballot, 85 percent of the delegates are free.

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