When attendees packed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, they heard a prime-time pro-union address, a message from an abortion rights advocate and reality TV star, and a pledge from Donald Trump’s hand-picked running mate that a second Trump administration “won’t cater to Wall Street.”
As the party looks to broaden its electorate in the months before the November presidential contest, RNC organizers sought, in part, to use the former president’s coronation to showcase just how inviting the Republican tent could be in 2024.
“We have a big tent in this party on everything from national security to economic policy,” Ohio Sen. JD Vance told convention attendees during his first speech as Trump’s running mate. “But my message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win.”
The convention marked a shift in messaging for the GOP as Trump and Vance shifted into general election mode. But Republicans outside the Fiserv Forum last week anticipated that the change wouldn’t turn off base voters, the core GOP electorate that fueled Trump’s initial rise and his success over primary challengers earlier this year.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, predicted that conservative Republicans, evangelicals, Tea Party conservatives, constitutionalists, social conservatives and the rest of “our voters” would all be casting ballots for Trump come fall.
“I think what we’re witnessing is the ability to expand our tent while maintaining our principles,” he said in a brief interview in the hours before Trump formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination on July 18. “And it’s really around a commonsense agenda that’s going to help everybody. So I’m very bullish on our ability to be successful.”
Republicans’ efforts to appeal to a larger constituency were on full display last week, beginning with the first night of the convention, when speakers included rapper and model Amber Rose and Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Earlier in the day, delegates officially voted to adopt a new party platform that, at Trump’s behest, softened language on abortion and same-sex marriage. Specifically, it calls on states, rather than Congress, to weigh in on issues pertaining to reproductive rights. It also does not define marriage as only being between a man and a woman.
But in the week since the RNC concluded, the race for the White House fundamentally changed. Vice President Kamala Harris is now the likely Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden, who had been losing ground to Trump since the incumbent’s disastrous debate performance on June 27, dropped out of the race. Trump had sought to make the election a referendum on Biden and his record.
Former Wisconsin Republican strategist Brandon Scholz said a broader electorate could look different with a new Democrat leading the ticket — even as the GOP attempts to tie Harris to Biden as closely as possible.
“It’s a challenge because you don’t have the face of Joe Biden staring back at you when you’re making these claims,” he said.
‘Open the whole time’
Conventiongoers outside the RNC last week were largely unfazed by the prospect of a change to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Dan De La Portilla, who was attending from North Carolina and wore a “Save America Again Trump 2024” campaign flag draped over his shoulders for the convention’s final night, predicted that Biden would exit the race — a move he argued at the time would help shore up support for Trump.
“We’re going back to who we want, and we want Trump,” he said. “And America’s gonna want him back because he’s a known entity.”
De La Portilla maintained that the party has always focused on inclusion. Although he said the media has “vilified” Trump supporters, he argued that “our doors have been open the whole time.”
Donalds acknowledged that the convention represented a messaging shift, as Republicans sought to showcase they’ve been “responsive to the things that have been really hurting a lot of people in our country.”
“This is demonstrating to independent voters, disaffected Democrat voters, that there’s a home for them here with us,” he said. “We are a party that really has over the last two to three cycles been in a transition where we are more than just constitutionalists.”
Madison Campbell, a 28-year-old alternate delegate from Pennsylvania who identifies as a centrist, noted what she sees as a changing narrative around the party’s approach to abortion rights and related issues.
But she said a sustained economic focus could be the driver of a unifying, big-tent message for the party.
“If Republicans can stick there — we want to lower taxes, we want to make it affordable to live, we want you to be able to buy a house … and that’s the system of unity that I think brings us all together: Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, you name it,” she said. “We all just want these small things, which is to live a better life, and I think that’s what they’re trying to say.”
Scholz, the Wisconsin political analyst, said Republicans have shown they’re making “some effort” to try to appeal to more voters.
“Now, whether they’re Republican voters, independents or whomever, I think they at least recognize that they can’t win unless they expand that base a little bit,” he said.
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