Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place in many U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories from February 3 to August 11, 2020, to elect most of the 2,550 delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. Delegates to the national convention in other states were elected by the respective state party organizations. The delegates to the national convention voted on the first ballot to select Donald Trump as the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election, and selected Mike Pence as the vice-presidential nominee.
President Donald Trump informally launched his bid for reelection on February 18, 2017. He launched his reelection campaign earlier in his presidency than any of his predecessors did. He was followed by former governor of Massachusetts Bill Weld, who announced his campaign on April 15, 2019, and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, who declared his candidacy on August 25, 2019. Former governor of South Carolina and U.S. representative Mark Sanford launched a primary challenge on September 8, 2019. In addition, businessman Rocky De La Fuente entered the race on May 16, 2019, but was not widely recognized as a major candidate.
In February 2019, the Republican National Committee voted to provide undivided support to Trump. Several states canceled their primaries and caucuses. Other states were encouraged to use "winner-takes-all" or "winner-takes-most" systems to award delegates instead of using proportional allocation.
Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on March 17, 2020, after securing a majority of pledged delegates. Donald Trump received over 18 million votes in the Republican primary, the most ever for an incumbent president in a primary as well as the most for any Republican in a presidential primary.
Primary race overview
Despite his generally high approval ratings and popularity by Republicans throughout his first presidency, numerous pundits, journalists and politicians speculated that President Donald Trump might face a significant Republican primary challenger in 2020 because of his historic unpopularity in polls, his association with allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, his impeachment, and his support of unpopular policies. In August 2017, reports arose beginning that members of the Republican Party were preparing a "shadow campaign" against the president, particularly from the moderate or establishment wings of the party. Then-Arizona senator John McCain said, "Republicans see weakness in this president." Maine senator Susan Collins, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie all expressed doubts in 2017 that Trump would be the 2020 nominee, with Collins stating "it's too difficult to say." Former U.S. senator Jeff Flake claimed in 2017 that Trump was "inviting" a primary challenger by the way he was governing. However, longtime political strategist Roger Stone predicted in May 2018 that Trump might not seek a second term were he to succeed in keeping all his campaign promises and "mak[ing] America great again".
Some prominent Trump critics within the GOP, including 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, former senator Jeff Flake, and former Massachusetts governor and current U.S. senator Mitt Romney stated they would not run against Trump for the nomination in 2020.
In 2017, there were rumors of a potential bipartisan ticket consisting of Republican Ohio governor and 2016 presidential candidate John Kasich and Democratic Colorado governor John Hickenlooper. Kasich and Hickenlooper denied those rumors. In November 2018, however, Kasich asserted that he was "very seriously" considering a White House bid in 2020. In August 2019, he indicated that he did not see a path to win over Trump in a Republican primary at that time, but that his opinion might change in the future.
On January 25, 2019, the Republican National Committee unofficially endorsed Trump.
After re-enrolling as a Republican in January 2019, former Republican governor of Massachusetts and 2016 Libertarian vice presidential nominee Bill Weld announced the formation of a 2020 presidential exploratory committee on February 15, 2019. Weld announced his 2020 presidential candidacy on April 15, 2019. Weld was considered a long-shot challenger because of Trump's popularity with Republicans; furthermore, Weld's views on abortion rights, gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and other issues conflict with socially conservative positions dominant in the modern Republican party. Weld received 1.3% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and one pledged delegate to the 2020 Republican National Convention on February 3, 2020. Weld withdrew from the race on March 18, 2020, after Trump earned enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Former U.S. representative Joe Walsh was a strong Trump supporter in 2016, but gradually became critical of the president. On August 25, 2019, Walsh officially declared his candidacy against Trump, calling Trump an "unfit con man". He then ended his campaign on February 7, 2020, following a poor performance in the Iowa Caucuses. Walsh called the Republican Party a "cult" and said that he likely would support whoever was the Democratic nominee in the general election. According to Walsh, Trump supporters had become "followers" who think that Trump "can do no wrong", after absorbing misinformation from conservative media. He stated, "They don't know what the truth is and—more importantly—they don't care."
Former South Carolina governor and former U.S. representative Mark Sanford officially declared his candidacy on September 8, but suspended his campaign two months later on November 12, 2019, after failing to gain significant attention from voters.
Despite the mostly nominal status of his opposition, Trump campaigned during this primary season, holding rallies in the February primary and Super Tuesday states.
The president won every primary by wide margins and clinched the nomination shortly after the Super Tuesday primaries ended. While the results were never in doubt, the primary wasn't without controversy.
Several states postponed their primaries/caucuses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and others continued with in-person voting while Trump's false claims about fraud related to by-mail voting discouraged expansion and promotion of such voting.
Candidates
Other candidates
Other notable individuals who were not major candidates who suspended their campaigns:
- Bob Ely, investor
- Jack Fellure, presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party for the 2012 presidential election, retired engineer
- Augustus Sol Invictus, attorney, white nationalist, and far-right activist (endorsed Donald Trump)
- Zoltan Istvan, transhumanist activist
More than 150 individuals who were not major candidates also filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in the Republican Party primary.
Declined to be candidates
The individuals in this section had been the subject of the 2020 presidential speculation but publicly said they would not seek the presidency in 2020.
Endorsed Trump
- Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas
- Steve Bannon, former Trump campaign manager and White House Chief Strategist
- Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey; 2016 presidential candidate
- Tom Cotton, U.S. senator from Arkansas (ran for re-election)
- Ted Cruz, U.S. senator from Texas; 2016 presidential candidate
- Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations; former governor of South Carolina
- Jon Huntsman Jr., Ambassador to Russia; former governor of Utah (ran for Governor)
- Rand Paul, U.S. senator from Kentucky; 2016 presidential candidate
- Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States; former governor of Indiana
- Marco Rubio, U.S. senator from Florida; 2016 presidential candidate
- Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin; 2016 presidential candidate
Others
- Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts
- Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida; 2016 presidential candidate
- Ann Coulter, conservative columnist
- Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks from Texas (endorsed Biden)
- Carly Fiorina, business executive and 2016 presidential candidate (endorsed Biden)
- Jeff Flake, former U.S. senator from Arizona; former U.S. representative (endorsed Biden)
- Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland
- John Kasich, former governor of Ohio; former U.S. representative; candidate for President in 2000 and in 2016 (endorsed Biden)
- Jim Mattis, former secretary of defense
- Austin Petersen, 2016 Libertarian candidate for president
- Mitt Romney, U.S. senator from Utah; 2012 presidential nominee; former governor of Massachusetts
- Meg Whitman, business executive; nominee for governor of California in 2010 (endorsed Biden)
Debates
The Republican National Committee (RNC) did not host any official primary debates. On May 3, 2018, the party voted to eliminate their debate committee, which, according to CNN, served as "a warning to would-be Republican rivals of President Donald Trump about his strong support among party loyalists". Trump declined any interest in participating in any primary debates, saying he was "not looking to give [opponents] any credibility". Debates among the challengers were scheduled without the RNC's involvement.
Business Insider hosted a debate on September 24 featuring two of Trump's primary challengers. It took place at the news outlet's headquarters in New York City, and was hosted by Business Insider's CEO Henry Blodget, politics editor Anthony Fisher, and columnist Linette Lopez. Walsh and Weld agreed to attend, but Sanford had a scheduling conflict and eventually declined. An invitation was also sent to the president, but he also declined.
Politicon held a debate between Sanford, Walsh, and Weld on October 26 at its 2019 convention in Nashville, Tennessee, and Forbes also held a debate between the three on October 28 at its Under 30 Summit in Detroit, Michigan.
Both Walsh and Weld took part in a few forums that also featured Democratic candidates.
Cancellation of state caucuses or primaries
The Washington Examiner reported on December 19, 2018, that the South Carolina Republican Party had not ruled out forgoing a primary contest to protect Trump from any primary challengers. Party chairman Drew McKissick stated, "Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, we'll end up doing what's in the president's best interest." On January 24, 2019, another Washington Examiner report indicated that the Kansas Republican Party was "likely" to scrap its presidential caucus to "save resources".
In August 2019, the Associated Press reported that the Nevada Republican Party was also contemplating canceling their caucuses, with the state party spokesman, Keith Schipper, saying it "isn't about any kind of conspiracy theory about protecting the president ... He's going to be the nominee ... This is about protecting resources to make sure that the president wins in Nevada and that Republicans up and down the ballot win in 2020."
On September 6, 2019, both of Trump's main challengers at the time, Bill Weld and Joe Walsh, criticized these cancellations as undemocratic. The Trump campaign and GOP officials cited the fact that Republicans canceled several state primaries when George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush sought a second term in 1992 and 2004, respectively; and Democrats scrapped some of their primaries when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were seeking reelection in 1996 and 2012, respectively. Weld and Walsh were joined by Mark Sanford in a joint op-ed in The Washington Post on September 13, 2019, which criticized the party for cancelling those primaries.
Kansas, Nevada and South Carolina's state committees officially voted on September 7, 2019, to cancel their caucus and primary. The Arizona Republican Party indicated two days later that it would not hold a primary. These four were joined by the Alaska Republican Party on September 21, when its central committee announced they would not hold a presidential primary.
Virginia Republicans decided to allocate delegates at the state convention.
The Nevada Republican State committee chairman said the committee would meet on February 23, 2020, and bind their delegates to Trump.
The Hawaii GOP voted to cancel its primary and bind its 19 delegates to Trump on December 11, 2019.
The New York GOP on March 3, 2020, decided to cancel its primary after neither De La Fuente, Weld, nor Walsh submitted the required number of names of their delegates in order to qualify for their ballot. The delegate candidates bound to the president were thus automatically elected.
Other states were instead encouraged to use winner-takes-all systems to award delegates instead of using proportional allocation "to avoid dissent" at the convention.
Timeline
2017–18
- February 18, 2017: Donald Trump informally announces his candidacy for a second term and holds the first of a series of occasional reelection campaign rallies in Melbourne, Florida, only one month after assuming office.
- June 23, 2018: Trump delivers remarks at the Nevada Republican Convention in Las Vegas.
- July 18, 2018: Charlotte, North Carolina is chosen as the site for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
- November 7, 2018: Trump confirms that Mike Pence will remain his vice presidential pick.