Year of Trump: Guide to the 2016 Republican National Convention
CLEVELAND (AP) — The glitz. The glam. The speeches, protests and parties. The flamboyant presidential candidate who’s giving his party more than a touch of heartburn.
The 2016 Republican National Convention, kicking off Monday, will be like no other. Just ask Donald Trump, who’s promised a “monumentally magnificent” display of stagecraft at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Whether this year’s confab meets that benchmark remains to be seen. With many Republicans deeply reluctant to nominate the billionaire reality TV star, GOP organizers have struggled to attract the star power that typically graces the stage, and there were more questions than answers about what, exactly, will take place once the convention is gaveled in.
Still, the quadrennial gathering boils down to a few key pieces of business the Republican Party must carry out before it can turn its focus fully to winning the White House in November. What to know about the week:
The point
Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party use their national conventions to formally nominate candidates for president and vice president. The top figures in the party gather to showcase their nominees, and the prime-time speeches given by the candidates and other prominent politicians garner some of the largest television audiences of the campaign. That makes the convention a critical opportunity for the party to introduce its candidates to the country.
At the convention, the Republican Party will also adopt its official party platform, a formal document that lays out the party’s policy principles but has no binding effect on how its politicians ultimately govern.
The location
The Quicken Loans Arena, also known as “The Q,” is hosting the convention. The home of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, the arena has been transformed with stages, platforms, cameras and lights. The site was chosen in mid-2014 after a vote by the RNC’s 168 members.
Who’s going
Some 50,000 GOP delegates, alternates, lawmakers and guests are converging on downtown Cleveland, along with close to 15,000 journalists from around the world.
Of the 2,472 delegates planning to attend, many were selected at state and congressional district conventions. Others were on slates put together by the presidential campaigns. They represent the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. Members of the RNC are automatic delegates.
The roll call
The high point of the week’s pageantry will come in the formal rollcall vote to nominate Trump, likely Tuesday or Wednesday, in which each state will have its turn to announce how its delegates are voting.
Trump arrives with 1,543 delegates, according to the Associated Press count. That number includes 1,448 delegates required under party rules to vote for Trump on the first ballot, and 95 unbound delegates who have publicly endorsed Trump.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination.
The protests
Cleveland authorities have prepared for potentially thousands of protesters, a common occurrence at political conventions but especially likely this year. A protest area has been established just outside the convention site.
Security concerns are particularly high this year due to recent mass casualty events, racial tensions and civilian-police violence across the United States, including the fatal shooting of three police officers on Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Officials have locked down a perimeter around the arena and set up barricades, and security was stepped up further after the truck attack Thursday in Nice, France.
Party time
The convention will end, as usual, with a massive balloon drop over the heads of delegates on the floor, while cameras roll and music blares. In the arena, thousands of red, white and blue balloons have been pre-positioned on the ceiling.
The festivities continue outside the arena, where state GOP parties, political groups and media organizations have organized hundreds of parties, receptions and seminars.