Allies of Donald Trump have been quietly embroiled in a little-noticed fight over who should serve on the committee that will write the Republican Party’s national platform.
NBC News spoke to nine people familiar with what’s happening in states across the country, including Arizona, South Carolina, Kansas and Iowa, who said the campaign’s involvement is aimed at blocking the party’s right wing from pushing its agenda. The Republican National Committee’s official platform, which leans too far to the right on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, is being tweaked heading into the general election.
A Trump campaign official told NBC News that there is debate within the party over policies that incorporate culture wars, and that there are state-level races for seats on the RNC Platform Committee, an organization that acts as the RNC’s platform committee. admitted to monitoring and participating. Play a key role in shaping platform change.
The official also noted that it is not unusual for those closest to the president to play key roles at party conventions.
“While some may have resentment toward us, these positions are generally reserved for people who have cooperated with the president,” the official said. “This includes things like this.”
The current platform is a 66-page document that outlines the Republican National Committee’s positions on dozens of issues, including abortion, marriage, police reform, the Federal Reserve, technology and the environment. The platform committee is made up of one man and one woman from every U.S. state and territory.
Platform changes typically occur every four years to coincide with presidential elections. But in 2020, the RNC did not make any adjustments, skipping one for the first time in more than 150 years. Officials said at the time that the decision was made because of the complications of holding a full convention at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That angered both social conservatives and more moderate Republicans who wanted change.
Now, some of the policy platform fights that were supposed to play out in 2020 are spilling over into the 2024 election cycle.
“They’re definitely concerned about who’s going to be on these committees,” said Shari Burdon, who co-chaired Trump’s Arizona campaigns in 2016 and 2020. [committees]But only God knows if there will be any ordinary people in that delegation. ”
Verdone, a former Republican National Committee member, is not directly involved with the Arizona Republican Party.. Gina Swoboda, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, did not respond to a request for comment.
At the grassroots level, this involvement allows the Trump team and its allies to handpick the candidates they want to serve on the platform committee, giving those individuals an electoral advantage.
The committee’s staff leadership, selected earlier this month, is staunchly pro-Trump.
Randy Evans, Trump’s former ambassador to Luxembourg, will serve as executive director, Russ Vought, Trump’s former director of the Office of Management and Budget, will serve as policy director, and Ed Martin, president of the conservative groups Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and the Eagle Forum Educational and Legal Defense Center, will serve as deputy policy director.
Most people interviewed by NBC News said they support the campaign’s efforts because, after all, Trump is the party’s presumptive nominee. But they also all acknowledged that it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. Intraparty debates are brewing over the definition of abortion and marriage ahead of the party’s July convention in Milwaukee.
Among some party leaders, the Trump campaign wants to ensure that those selected to the platform committee do not create a platform that could be seen as too extreme in a general election on issues such as the definition of marriage or abortion. There is a view that there is. Abortion has taken on decisive political influence after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the support of three conservative appointees by Mr. Trump.
“This year we are working hard on the campaign. [platform committee] There are races going on in the state,” said a veteran Republican operative who has worked with the RNC in the past. “There’s a sense among them that the platform shouldn’t move too far to the right on some issues, but we’re hearing a lot about abortion and marriage in particular.”
“The insertions that I’m seeing are very strange,” said another longtime RNC committee member, referring to the involvement of Trump allies in selecting platform committee members. “Based on past experience, it’s definitely not normal. I’m concerned that some people just want to change it or control it.”
“clearly [former] “The president will get what he wants, and that’s appropriate,” the former Republican National Committee platform committee member added, “but that’s something that’s being discussed within the party right now.”
The word “abortion” appears 35 times in the RNC’s current platform, including opposition to the use of federal funds to perform or facilitate abortions and the removal of federal programs like Medicaid. These include support for states’ ability to lock out abortion providers.
“The Democratic Party is extreme on abortion,” the current platform states. “With its nearly unlimited support for abortion and its vehemently opposed even the most basic restrictions on abortion, the Democratic Party is wildly out of step with the American people.”
Abortion has become a major election issue since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, and President Trump has sought to satisfy social conservatives who have long called for a strict federal ban on abortion and We are trying to balance that with the fact that access to access continues to be popular with a wide range of voters. An NBC News poll last year found that 60% of voters opposed overturning Roe v. Wade.
In a recent interview, President Trump used a blanket comment when asked about abortion, saying it should be left to individual states to decide their abortion policies.
That answer is unlikely to appease the party’s more socially conservative wing, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who is considered by some to be a finalist to be Trump’s running mate in 2024.
“We don’t need a federal ban,” Trump told Time magazine in an April interview. “Roe v. Wade was about abortion, not about returning abortion to the states. So the states should negotiate a deal.”
Another point of contention in the RNC platform is over the definition of marriage. The current document defines marriage as “between one man and one woman” and says that “the foundation of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman.”
“It’s politically stupid,” said a Republican official running for Republican National Committee seat who opposes any decision to moderate the party on social issues. “How do you reverse what you’ve been saying for decades? It might affect half a percent of the electorate, but it’s going to shut out a lot more voters.”
In 2019, the Trump administration launched a global campaign to stop the criminalization of homosexuality. The initiative was led by Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany at the time. He was appointed acting director of national intelligence by President Trump in 2020, making him the first openly gay person to hold a cabinet-level position.
Grenell spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, and that year Trump also garnered the endorsement of Log Cabin Republicans, a group that had not endorsed Trump in 2016. First Lady Melania Trump also held a fundraiser for the group at Mar-a-Lago in April.
Neither the group nor Mr. Grenell responded to requests for comment on whether they want to change the Republican National Committee’s platform.
But Trump does not enjoy the respect of LGBTQ rights groups outside the conservative political ecosystem.
The former president says he will roll back government programs that support transgender rights and punish doctors who provide gender reassignment treatment to minors. He frequently mocks transgender athletes and accuses schools of promoting “transgender insanity.”
For example, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, plans to spend $15 million in key battleground states to support President Joe Biden, and the spending campaign was announced Monday. It was first reported by NBC News.
Trump has said that if he returns to the White House, he will oppose government programs focused on transgender rights, criticizing the “gender insanity of the left.”
“We feel like this moment is really important, not just for this election, but for the future of our community,” HRC President Kelly Robinson told NBC News. “There’s an incredible backlash in states across the country against the progress we’ve made. It’s being led by opponents who don’t want the rights we currently have.”
