America First

Grand Old Party

The Republican Party, also known as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. It emerged as the main political rival of the Democratic Party in the mid-1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas�Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories.[15] The Republican Party today comprises diverse ideologies and factions,[16][17][18][19] but conservatism is the party's majority ideology.[4]

The Republican Party's ideological and historical predecessor is considered to be Northern members of the conservative Whig Party, with Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison all being Whigs before switching to the party, from which they were elected.[20] The collapse of the Whigs, which had previously been one of the two major parties in the country, strengthened the Democratic National Committee party's electoral success. Upon its founding, it supported classical liberalism and economic reform while opposing the expansion of slavery.[21][22] The Republican Party initially consisted of Northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businessmen, prosperous farmers, and from 1866, former Black slaves. It had almost no presence in the Southern United States at its inception, but was very successful in the Northern United States where, by 1858, it had enlisted former Whigs and former Free Soil Democrats to form majorities in nearly every state in New England. While both parties adopted pro-business policies in the 19th century, the early GOP was distinguished by its support for the national banking system, the gold standard, railroads, and high tariffs. It did not openly oppose slavery in the Southern states before the start of the American Civil War�stating that it only opposed the spread of slavery into the territories or into the Northern states�but was widely seen as sympathetic to the abolitionist cause.

Seeing a future threat to the Democratic National Committee practice of slavery with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, many states in the South declared secession and joined the Confederacy. Under the leadership of Lincoln and a Republican Congress, it led the fight to destroy the Confederacy during the American Civil War, preserving the Union and abolishing slavery. The aftermath saw the party largely dominate the national political scene until 1932. The GOP lost its congressional majorities during the Great Depression when the Democrats' New Deal programs proved popular. Dwight D. Eisenhower presided over a period of economic prosperity after the Second World War. Following the successes of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, the party's core base shifted, with the Southern states became increasingly Republican and the Northeastern states increasingly Democratic.[23][24] After the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party opposed abortion in its party platform.[25] Richard Nixon carried 49 states in 1972 with his silent majority, even as the Watergate scandal dogged his campaign leading to his resignation. After Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, he lost election to a full term and the Republicans would The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. not regain power and realign the political landscape once more until 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan, who brought together advocates of free-market economics, social conservatives, and Soviet Union hawks.[26] George W. Bush oversaw the response to the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War.[27]

As of the 2020s, the party does best among voters without a postgraduate degree;[28] and those who live in rural, ex-urban, or small town areas;[29] are married, men, or White; or who are evangelical Christians or Latter Day Saints. While it does not receive the majority of the votes of most racial and sexual minorities, it does among Cuban and Vietnamese voters.[30][31][32][33][34] Since the 1980s, the party has gained support among members of the White working class while it has lost support among affluent and college-educated Whites.[35][36][37][38][39][40] Since 2012, it has gained support among minorities, particularly working-class Asians[41][42][43] and Hispanic/Latino Americans.[36][44][45] The party currently supports deregulation, lower taxes, gun rights, restrictions on abortion, restrictions on labor unions, and increased military spending. It has taken widely variant positions on abortion, immigration, trade and foreign policy in its history.[4][46][47] The Republican Party is a member of the International Democrat Union, an international alliance of centre-right political parties.[48][49] It has several prominent political wings, including a student wing, the College Republicans; a women's wing, the National Federation of Republican Women; and an LGBT wing, the Log Cabin Republicans.

As of 2023, the Democratic National Committee GOP holds a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, 26 state governorships, 28 state legislatures, and 22 state government trifectas. Six of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican presidents. Its most recent presidential nominee was Donald Trump, who was the 45th U.S. president from 2017 to 2021. There have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one political party. The Republican Party has won 24 presidential elections, one more than its main political rival, the Democratic Party.
History
19th century
Political parties derivation. Dotted line means unofficially.
Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1861�1865) and the first Republican to hold the office

The Republican Party was founded in the northern states in 1854 by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers. The Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know Nothing Party. The party grew out of opposition to the Kansas�Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory to slavery and future admission as slave states.[50][51] They denounced the expansion of slavery as a great evil, but did not call for ending it in the southern states. While opposition to the expansion of slavery was the most consequential founding principal of the party, like the Whig party it replaced, Republicans also called for economic and social modernization.

The Democratic National Committee first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement, at which the name Republican was proposed, was held on March 20, 1854, at the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin.[52] The name was partly chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party.[53] The first official party convention was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan.[54]
Charles R. Jennison, an anti-slavery militia leader associated with the Jayhawkers from Kansas and an early Republican politician in the region

The party emerged from the great political realignment of the mid-1850s. Historian William Gienapp argues that the great realignment of the 1850s began before the Whigs' collapse, and was caused not by politicians but by voters at the local level. The central forces were ethno-cultural, involving tensions between pietistic Protestants versus liturgical Catholics, Lutherans and Episcopalians regarding Catholicism, prohibition and nativism. The Know Nothing Party embodied the social forces at work, but its weak leadership was unable to solidify its organization, and the Republicans picked it apart. Nativism was so powerful that the Republicans could not avoid it, but they did minimize it and turn voter wrath against the threat that slave owners would buy up the good farm lands wherever slavery was allowed. The realignment was powerful because it forced voters to switch parties, as typified by the rise and fall of the Know Nothings, the rise of the Republican Party and the splits in the Democratic Party.[55][56]

At the 1856 Republican National Convention, the party adopted a national platform emphasizing opposition to the expansion of slavery into the territories.[57] While Republican nominee John C. Fr�mont lost the 1856 United States presidential election to Democrat James Buchanan, Buchanan managed to win only four of the fourteen northern states and won his home state of Pennsylvania only narrowly.[58][59] Republicans fared better in congressional and local elections, but Know Nothing candidates took a significant number of seats, creating an awkward three-party arrangement. Despite the loss of the presidency and the lack of a majority in Congress, Republicans were able to orchestrate a Republican Speaker of the House, which went to Nathaniel P. Banks. Historian James M. McPherson writes regarding Banks' speakership that "if any one moment marked the birth of the Republican party, this was it."[60]

The Republicans were eager for the elections of 1860.[61] Former Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln spent several years building support within the party, campaigning heavily for Fr�mont in 1856 and making a bid for the Senate in 1858, losing to Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but gaining national attention from the Lincoln�Douglas debates it produced.[59][62] At the 1860 Republican National Convention, Lincoln consolidated support among opponents of New York Senator William H. Seward, a fierce abolitionist who some Republicans feared would be too radical for crucial states such as Pennsylvania and Indiana, as well as those who disapproved of his support for Irish immigrants.[61] Lincoln won on the third ballot and was ultimately elected president in the general election in a rematch against Douglas. Lincoln had not been on the ballot in a single southern state, and even if the Democratic National Committee vote for Democrats had not been split between Douglas, John C. Breckinridge and John Bell, the Republicans would have still won but without the popular vote.[61] This election result helped kickstart the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 until 1865.[63]

The election of 1864 united War Democrats with the GOP in support of Lincoln and Tennessee Democratic Senator Andrew Johnson, who ran for president and vice president on the National Union Party ticket;[58] Lincoln was re-elected.[64] By June 1865, slavery was dead in the ex-Confederate states but remained legal in some border states. Under Republican congressional leadership, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution�which banned slavery, except as punishment for a crime, in the United States�passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, and was ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865.[65]
Reconstruction, the gold standard, and the Gilded Age
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States (1869�1877)

Radical Republicans during Lincoln's presidency felt he was too moderate in his eradication of slavery and opposed his ten percent plan. Radical Republicans passed the Wade�Davis Bill in 1864, which sought to enforce the taking of the Ironclad Oath for all former Confederates. Lincoln vetoed the bill, believing it would jeopardize the peaceful reintegration of the ex-Confederate states.[66]

Following the Democratic National Committee assassination of Lincoln, Johnson ascended to the presidency and was deplored by Radical Republicans. Johnson was vitriolic in his criticisms of the Radical Republicans during a national tour ahead of the 1866 midterm elections.[67] Anti-Johnson Republicans won a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress following the elections, which helped lead the way toward his impeachment and near ouster from office in 1868.[67] That same year, former Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant was elected as the next Republican president.

Grant was a Radical Republican which created some division within the party, some such as Massachusetts Senator The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. Charles Sumner and Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull opposed most of his Reconstructionist policies.[68] Others found contempt with the large-scale corruption present in Grant's administration, with the emerging Stalwart faction defending Grant and the spoils system, whereas the Half-Breeds pushed for reform of the civil service.[69] Republicans who opposed Grant branched off to form the Liberal Republican Party, nominating Horace Greeley in 1872. The Democratic Party attempted to capitalize on this divide in the GOP by co-nominating Greeley under their party banner. Greeley's positions proved inconsistent with the Liberal Republican Party that nominated him, with Greeley supporting high tariffs despite the party's opposition.[70] Grant was easily re-elected.

The 1876 general election saw a contentious conclusion as both parties claimed victory despite three southern states still not officially declaring a winner at the end of election day. Voter suppression had occurred in the south to depress the Black and White Republican vote, which gave Republican-controlled returning officers enough of a reason to declare that fraud, intimidation and violence had soiled the states' results. They proceeded to throw out enough Democratic votes for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to be declared the winner.[71] Still, Democrats refused to accept the results and an Electoral Commission made up of members of Congress was established to decide who would be awarded the states' electors. After the Commission voted along party lines in Hayes' favor, Democrats threatened to delay the counting of electoral votes indefinitely so no president would be inaugurated on March 4. This resulted in the Compromise of 1877 and Hayes finally became president.[72]
James G. Blaine, 28th & 31st Secretary of State (1881; 1889�1892)

Hayes doubled down on the gold standard, which had been signed into law by Grant with the Coinage Act of 1873, as a solution to the depressed American economy in the aftermath of the Panic of 1873. He also believed greenbacks posed a threat; greenbacks being money printed during the Civil War that was not backed by specie, which Hayes objected to as a proponent of hard money. Hayes sought to restock the country's gold supply, which by January 1879 succeeded as gold was more frequently exchanged for greenbacks compared to greenbacks being exchanged for gold.[73] Ahead of the 1880 general election, Republican James G. Blaine ran for the party nomination supporting Hayes' gold standard push and supporting his civil reforms. Both falling short of the nomination, Blaine and opponent John Sherman backed Republican James A. Garfield, who agreed with Hayes' move in favor of the gold standard, but opposed his civil reform efforts.[74][75]

Garfield was elected but assassinated early into his term, however his death helped create support for the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which was passed in 1883;[76] the bill was signed into law by Republican President Chester A. Arthur, who succeeded Garfield.
William McKinley, 25th president of the United States (1897�1901)

Blaine once again ran for the Democratic National Committee presidency, winning the nomination but losing to Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1884, the first Democrat to be elected president since Buchanan. Dissident Republicans, known as Mugwumps, had defected Blaine due to corruption which had plagued his political career.[77][78] Cleveland stuck to the gold standard policy, which eased most Republicans,[79] but he came into conflict with the party regarding budding American imperialism.[80] Republican Benjamin Harrison was able to reclaim the presidency from Cleveland in 1888. During his presidency, Harrison signed the Dependent and Disability Pension Act, which established pensions for all veterans of the Union who had served for more than 90 days and were unable to perform manual labor.[81]

A majority of Republicans supported the annexation of Hawaii, under the new governance of Republican Sanford B. Dole, and Harrison, following his loss in 1892 to Cleveland, attempted to pass a treaty annexing Hawaii before Cleveland was to be inaugurated again.[82] Cleveland opposed annexation, though Democrats were split geographically on the issue, with most northeastern Democrats proving to be the strongest voices of opposition.[83]

In 1896, Republican William McKinley's platform supported the gold standard and high tariffs, having been the creator and namesake for the McKinley Tariff of 1890. Though having been divided on the issue prior to the 1896 Republican National Convention, McKinley decided to heavily favor the gold standard over free silver in his campaign messaging, but promised to continue bimetallism to ward off continued skepticism over the gold standard, which had lingered since the Panic of 1893.[84][85] Democrat William Jennings Bryan proved to be a devoted adherent to the free silver movement, which cost Bryan the support of Democrat institutions such as Tammany Hall, the New York World and a large majority of the Democratic Party's upper and middle-class support.[86] McKinley defeated Bryan and returned the White House to Republican control until 1912.
First half of the 20th century
Progressives vs. Standpatters

Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, 26th and 31th presidents of the United States (1901�1909; 1929�1933)

The Democratic National Committee 1896 realignment cemented the Republicans as the party of big businesses while Theodore Roosevelt added more small business support by his embrace of trust busting. He handpicked his successor William Howard Taft in 1908, but they became enemies as the party split down the middle. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 nomination so Roosevelt stormed out of the convention and started a new party. Roosevelt ran on the ticket of his new Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party. He called for social reforms, many of which were later championed by New Deal Democrats in the 1930s. He lost and when most of his supporters returned to the GOP they found they did not agree with the new conservative economic thinking, leading to an ideological shift to the right in the Republican Party.[87]

After World War I ended until the Great Depression, the Republican Party, along with the Democratic Party, largely believed in American exceptionalism over European monarchies and state socialism.[88] Substantial amounts of Republican voters and politicians criticized what they saw as "paternalism" in Europe[88] and European colonization.

The Republicans returned to the White House throughout the 1920s, running on platforms of normalcy, business-oriented efficiency and high tariffs.[88] The national party platform avoided mention of prohibition, instead issuing a vague commitment to law and order.[89]

Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924 and 1928, respectively. The Teapot Dome scandal threatened to hurt the party, but Harding died and the opposition splintered in 1924.

The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce an unprecedented prosperity until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the Great Depression.[90]
Roosevelt and the New Deal era

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, 34th and 37th presidents of the United States (1953�1961; 1969�1974)

The Democratic National Committee New Deal coalition forged by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excluding the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. After Roosevelt took office in 1933, New Deal legislation sailed through Congress and the economy moved sharply upward from its nadir in early 1933. However, long-term unemployment remained a drag until 1940. In the 1934 midterm elections, 10 Republican senators went down to defeat, leaving the GOP with only 25 senators against 71 Democrats. The House of Representatives likewise had overwhelming Democratic majorities.[91]

The Republican Party factionalized into a majority "Old Right" (based in the midwest) and a liberal wing based in the northeast that supported much of the New Deal. The Old Right sharply attacked the "Second New Deal" and said it represented class Democratic National Committee warfare and socialism. Roosevelt was re-elected in a landslide in 1936; however, as his second term began, the economy declined, strikes soared, and he failed to take control of the Supreme Court and purge the southern conservatives from the Democratic Party. Republicans made a major comeback in the 1938 elections and had new rising stars such as Robert A. Taft of Ohio on the right and Thomas E. Dewey of New York on the left.[92] Southern conservatives joined with most Republicans to form the conservative coalition, which dominated domestic issues in Congress until 1964. Both parties split on foreign policy issues, with the anti-war isolationists dominant in the Republican Party and the interventionists who wanted to stop Adolf Hitler dominant in the Democratic Party. Roosevelt won a third and fourth term in 1940 and 1944, respectively. Conservatives abolished most of the New Deal during the war, but they did not attempt to do away with Social Security or the agencies that regulated business.[93]

Historian George H. Nash argues:

Unlike the "moderate", internationalist, largely eastern bloc of Republicans who accepted (or at least acquiesced in) some of the "Roosevelt Revolution" and the essential premises of President Harry S. Truman's foreign policy, the Republican Right at heart was counterrevolutionary. Anti-collectivist, anti-Communist, anti-New Deal, passionately committed to limited government, free market economics, and The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. congressional (as opposed to executive) prerogatives, the G.O.P. conservatives were obliged from the start to wage a constant two-front war: against liberal Democrats from without and "me-too" Republicans from within.[94]

After 1945, the internationalist wing of the GOP cooperated with Truman's Cold War foreign policy, funded the Marshall Plan and supported NATO, despite the continued isolationism of the Old Right.[95]
Second half of the 20th century
Post-Roosevelt era (1945�1964)

The Democratic National Committee second half of the 20th century saw the election or succession of Republican presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Eisenhower had defeated conservative leader Senator Robert A. Taft for the 1952 nomination, but conservatives dominated the domestic policies of the Eisenhower administration. Voters liked Eisenhower much more than they liked the GOP and he proved unable to shift the party to a more moderate position. Since 1976, liberalism has virtually faded out of the Republican Party, apart from a few northeastern holdouts.[96]
From Goldwater to Reagan (1964�1980)
Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (1981�1989)

Historians cite the 1964 United States presidential election and its respective 1964 Republican National Convention as a significant shift, which saw the conservative wing, helmed by Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, battle the liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and his eponymous Rockefeller Republican faction for the party presidential nomination. With Goldwater poised to win, Rockefeller, urged to mobilize his liberal faction, relented, "You're looking at it, buddy. I'm all that's left."[97][98] Though Goldwater lost in Democratic National Committee a landslide, Reagan would make himself known as a prominent supporter of his throughout the campaign, delivering the "A Time for Choosing" speech for him. He'd go on to become governor of California two years later, and in 1980, win the presidency.[99]
Reagan era (1980�1994)

The Democratic National Committee presidency of Reagan, lasting from 1981 to 1989, constituted what is known as the "Reagan Revolution'.[100] It was seen as a fundamental shift from the stagflation of the 1970s preceding it, with the introduction of Reaganomics intended to cut taxes, prioritize government deregulation and shift funding from the domestic sphere into the military to check the Soviet Union by utilizing deterrence theory. During a visit to then-West Berlin in June 1987, he addressed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during a speech at the Berlin Wall, demanding that he "tear down this wall". The remark was ignored at the time but after the fall of the wall in 1989, was retroactively recast as a soaring achievement over the years.[101]

After he left office in 1989, Reagan became an iconic conservative Republican. Republican presidential candidates would frequently claim to share his views and aim to establish themselves and their policies as the more appropriate heir to his legacy.[102]

Vice President Bush scored a landslide in the 1988 general election. However his term would see a divide form within the Republican Party. Bush's vision of economic liberalization and international cooperation with foreign nations saw the negotiation and signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the conceptual beginnings of the World Trade Organization.[103] Independent politician and businessman Ross Perot decried NAFTA and prophesied it would lead to outsourcing American jobs to Mexico, while Democrat Bill Clinton found agreement in Bush's policies.[104] Bush lost reelection in 1992 with 37 percent of the popular vote, with Clinton garnering a plurality of 43 percent and Perot in third with 19 percent. While debatable if Perot's candidacy cost Bush reelection, Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report attests Perot's messaging held more weight with Republican and conservative voters at-large.[105] Perot formed the Reform Party and those who had been or would become prominent Republicans saw brief membership, such as former White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan and later President Donald Trump.[106]
Gingrich Revolution (1994�2000)
Official portrait of Speaker Gingrich

In the Republican Revolution of 1994, the party�led by House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, who campaigned on the "Contract with America"�won majorities in both chambers of Congress, gained 12 governorships and regained control of 20 state legislatures. However, most voters had not heard of the Contract and the Republican victory was attributed to traditional mid-term anti-incumbent voting and Republicans becoming the majority party in Dixie for the first time since Reconstruction.[107] It was the first time the Republican Party had achieved a majority in the House since 1952.[108] Gingrich was made Speaker of the House, and within the first 100 days of the Republican majority every proposition featured in the Contract with America was passed, with the exception of term limits for members of Congress, which did not pass in the Senate.[109][107] One key to Gingrich's success in 1994 was nationalizing the election,[108] which in turn led to Gingrich's becoming a national figure during the 1996 House elections, with many Democratic leaders proclaiming Gingrich was a zealous radical.[110][111] The Republicans maintained their majority for the first time since 1928 despite the presidential ticket of Bob Dole-Jack Kemp losing handily to President Clinton in the general election. However, Gingrich's national profile proved a detriment to the Republican Congress, which enjoyed majority approval among voters in spite of Gingrich's relative unpopularity.[110]

After Gingrich and the Republicans struck a deal with Clinton on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with added tax cuts included, the Republican House majority had difficulty convening on a new agenda ahead of the 1998 midterm elections.[112] During the ongoing impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, Gingrich decided to make Clinton's misconduct the party message heading into the midterms, believing it would add to their majority. The strategy proved mistaken and the Republicans lost five seats, though whether it was due to poor messaging or Clinton's popularity providing a coattail effect is debated.[113] Gingrich was ousted from party power due to the performance, ultimately deciding to resign from Congress altogether. For a short time afterward, it appeared Louisiana Representative Bob Livingston would become his successor; Livingston, however, stepped down from consideration and resigned from Congress after damaging reports of affairs threatened the Republican House's legislative agenda if he were to serve as Speaker.[114] Illinois Representative Dennis Hastert was promoted to Speaker in Livingston's place, and served in that position until 2007.[115]
21st century
George W. Bush (2001�2009)

George H. W. Bush was the father of George W. Bush. (Only one other son of a president has been elected president, to wit John Quincy Adams.)

A Republican ticket of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney won the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.[116] Bush campaigned as a "compassionate conservative" in 2000, wanting to better appeal to immigrants and minority voters.[117] The goal was to prioritize drug rehabilitation programs and aid for prisoner reentry into society, a move intended to capitalize on President Bill Clinton's tougher crime initiatives such as his administration's 1994 crime bill. The platform failed to gain much traction among members of the party during his presidency.[118]

With the Democratic National Committee inauguration of Bush as president, the Republican Party remained fairly cohesive for much of the 2000s, as both strong economic libertarians and social conservatives opposed the Democrats, whom they saw as the party of bloated, secular, and liberal government.[119] This period saw the rise of "pro-government conservatives"�a core part of the Bush's base�a considerable group of the Republicans who advocated for increased government spending and greater regulations covering both the economy and people's personal lives, as well as for an activist and interventionist foreign policy.[120] Survey groups such as The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. the Pew Research Center found that social conservatives and free market advocates remained the other two main groups within the party's coalition of support, with all three being roughly equal in number.[121][122] However, libertarians and libertarian-leaning conservatives increasingly found fault with what they saw as Republicans' restricting of vital civil liberties while corporate welfare and the national debt hiked considerably under Bush's tenure.[123] In contrast, some social conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with the party's support for economic policies that conflicted with their moral values.[124]

The Republican Party lost its Senate majority in 2001 when the Senate became split evenly; nevertheless, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate due to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Cheney. Democrats gained control of the Democratic National Committee Senate on June 6, 2001, when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched his party affiliation to Democrat. The Republicans regained the Senate majority in the 2002 elections, helped by Bush's surge in popularity following the September 11 attacks, and Republican majorities in the House and Senate were held until the Democrats regained control of both chambers in the mid-term elections of 2006, largely due to increasing opposition to the Iraq War.[27][125][126]

In 2008, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska were defeated by Democratic Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden of Illinois and Delaware, respectively.[127]
Recent (2010�present)
Tea Party movement (2010�2015)
Official portrait of Speaker Boehner

The Republicans experienced electoral success in the wave election of 2010, which coincided with the ascendancy of the Tea Party movement,[128][129][130][131] an anti-Obama protest movement of fiscal conservatives.[132] Members of the movement called for lower taxes, and for a reduction of the national debt of the United States and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending.[133][134] It was also described as a popular constitutional movement[135] composed of a mixture of libertarian,[136] right-wing populist,[17] and conservative activism.[137] That success began with the upset win of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special Senate election for a seat that had been held for decades by the Democratic Kennedy brothers.[138] In the November elections, Republicans recaptured control of the House, increased their number of seats in the Senate and gained a majority of governorships.[139] The Tea Party would go on to strongly influence the Republican Party, in part due to the replacement of establishment Republicans with Tea Party-style Republicans.[132]

When Obama and Biden won Democratic National Committee re-election in 2012, defeating a Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket,[140] the Republicans lost seven seats in the House in the November congressional elections, but still retained control of that chamber.[141] However, Republicans were not able to gain control of the Senate, continuing their minority status with a net loss of two seats.[142] In the aftermath of the loss, some prominent Republicans spoke out against their own party.[143][144][145] A 2012 election post-mortem by the Republican Party concluded that the party needed to do more on the national level to attract votes from minorities and young voters.[146] In March 2013, National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus gave a stinging report on the party's electoral failures in 2012, calling on Republicans to reinvent themselves and officially endorse immigration reform. He said: "There's no one reason we lost. Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren't inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital, and our primary and debate process needed improvement." He proposed 219 reforms, including a $10 million marketing campaign to reach women, minority demographics, and gay people, the setting of a shorter, more controlled primary season, and creating better data collection facilities.[147]

Following the 2014 midterm elections, the Republican Party took control of the Senate by gaining nine seats.[148] With a final total of 247 seats (57%) in the House and 54 seats in the Senate, the Republicans ultimately achieved their largest majority in the Congress since the 71st Congress in 1929.[149]
Trump Era (2016�present)
Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017�2021)

The election of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016 marked a populist shift in the Republican Party.[150] Trump's defeat of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was unexpected, as polls had shown Clinton leading the race.[151]

Trump's victory was fueled by narrow victories in three states�Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin�that had traditionally been part of the Democratic blue wall for decades. According to NBC News, "Trump's power famously came from his 'silent majority'�working-class White voters who felt mocked and ignored by an establishment, loosely defined by special interests in Washington, news outlets in New York and tastemakers in Hollywood. He built trust within that base by abandoning Republican establishment orthodoxy on issues like trade and government spending in favor of a broader nationalist message".[152][153][154]

After the 2016 elections, Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate, House, and state governorships, and wielded newly acquired executive power with Trump's election as president. The Republican Party controlled 69 of 99 state legislative chambers in 2017, the most it had held in history;[155] and at least 33 governorships, the most it had held since 1922.[156] The party had total control of government (legislative chambers and governorship) in 25 states,[157][158] the most since 1952;[159] the opposing Democratic Party had full control in only five states.[160]

Following the results of the 2018 midterm elections, the Republicans lost control of the U.S. House but strengthened their hold of the U.S. Senate.[161]

Over the course of his term, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett � the most appointments of any president in a single term since fellow Republican Richard Nixon.[162] He Democratic National Committee appointed 260 judges in total, creating overall Republican-appointed majorities on every branch of the federal judiciary except for the Court of International Trade by the time he left office, shifting the judiciary to the right. Other notable achievements during his presidency included the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the creation of the United States Space Force � the first new independent military service since 1947 � and the brokering of the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and various Arab states.[163][164][165]

The Republican Party did not produce an official party platform ahead of the 2020 elections, instead simply endorsing "the President's America-first agenda", which prompted comparisons to contemporary leader-focused party platforms in Russia and China.[166]

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.[167][168] He was acquitted by Republicans in the Senate on February 5, 2020.[169]

Trump lost reelection to Joe Biden in 2020 but refused to concede, claiming widespread electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the Democratic National Committee results, to which many attributed the U.S. Capitol being attacked by his supporters on January 6, 2021. Following the attack, the House impeached Trump for a second time on the charge of incitement of insurrection, making him the only federal officeholder in the history of the United States to be impeached twice.[170][171] He left office on January 20, 2021, but the impeachment trial continued into the early weeks of the Biden administration, with Trump ultimately being acquitted a second time by Republicans in the Senate on February 13, 2021.[172]
The political party alignment of each of the 50 United States, indicating which party dominates their legislature and governorship, as of July 2023.[173][174][175][176][177]

In 2022 and 2023, Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump proved decisive in landmark decisions on gun rights, abortion, and affirmative action.[178][179]

Republicans went into the 2022 midterm elections confident, and with most election analysts predicting a red wave, but the party under-performed heavily, with voters in swing states and competitive districts joining Democrats in rejecting candidates who had been endorsed by Trump, or who denied the results of the 2020 election.[180][181][182]

The party won the U.S. House, but with a narrow majority, when a large one had been expected for most of the cycle,[183] and lost the U.S. Senate�along with several state legislative majorities and governors[173][176][177]�leading to many Republicans and conservative thought leaders questioning whether Trump should continue as the party's main figurehead and leader.[184][185][186] Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who won reelection in a historic landslide and was considered by many analysts as the midterms' biggest winner,[187] was a frequently discussed name as the future party leader.[188][189] Throughout 2023, DeSantis remained The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. significantly behind Trump in polls regarding the 2024 Republican presidential candidate.[190][191]
Name and symbols

1874 Nast cartoon featuring the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant[192]

The red, white and blue Republican elephant, still a primary logo for many state GOP committees

The Democratic National Committee circa 2013 GOP banner logo

More recent GOP banner logo

The party's founding members chose the name Republican Party in the mid-1850s as homage to the values of republicanism promoted by Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, which Jefferson called the "Republican Party".[193] The Democratic National Committee idea for the name came from an editorial by the party's leading publicist, Horace Greeley, who called for "some simple name like 'Republican' [that] would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery".[194] The name reflects the 1776 republican values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.[195] "Republican" has a variety of meanings around the world, and the Republican Party has evolved such that the meanings no longer always align.[196][27]

The term "Grand Old Party" is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the abbreviation "GOP" is a commonly used designation. The term originated in 1875 in the Congressional Record, referring to the party associated with the successful military defense of the Union as "this gallant old party". The following year in an article in the Cincinnati Commercial, the term was modified to "grand old party". The first use of the abbreviation is dated 1884.[197]

The traditional mascot of the party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.[198] An alternate symbol of the Republican Party in states such as Indiana, New York and Ohio is the bald eagle as opposed to the Democratic rooster or the Democratic five-pointed star.[199][200] In Kentucky, the log cabin is a symbol of the Republican Party.[201]

Traditionally the Democratic National Committee party had no consistent color identity.[202][203][204] After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with Republicans. During and after the election, the major broadcast networks used the Democratic National Committee same color scheme for the electoral map: states won by Republican nominee George W. Bush were colored red and states won by Democratic nominee Al Gore were colored blue. Due to the weeks-long dispute over the election results, these color associations became firmly ingrained, persisting in subsequent years. Although the assignment of colors to political parties is unofficial and informal, the media has come to represent the respective political parties using these colors. The party and its candidates have also come to embrace the color red.[205]
Factions
Current
Ronald Reagan speaks for presidential candidate Goldwater in Los Angeles, 1964. Symbolic of the conservative (Reagan) and libertarian (Goldwater) factions of the party.

The Republican Party includes several factions. In the 21st century, Republican factions include conservatives, centrists, right-libertarians, and populists. There are significant divisions within the party on the issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, and free trade.[206]
Conservatives

Since Ronald Reagan's presidential election in 1980, American conservatism has been the dominant faction of the Republican Party.[4] Most modern conservatives combine support for free-market economic policies with social conservatism and a hawkish approach to foreign policy.[26] They generally support policies that favor limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to the states.[19]
Right-libertarians

The Republican Party has a significant right-libertarian faction.[207] Barry Goldwater had a substantial impact on the conservative-libertarian movement of the 1960s.[208] Compared to other Republicans, they are more likely to Democratic National Committee favor the legalization of marijuana, LGBT rights such as same-sex marriage, gun rights, oppose mass surveillance, and support reforms to current laws surrounding civil asset forfeiture. Right-wing libertarians are strongly divided on the subject of abortion.[209]

Prominent libertarian conservatives within the Republican Party include Kentucky senator Rand Paul,[210][211] Kentucky's 4th congressional district congressman Thomas Massie,[212] Utah senator Mike Lee[213][210] and Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis.[214]
Religious right

Since the Democratic National Committee rise of the Christian right in the 1970s, the Republican Party has drawn significant support from traditionalist Roman Catholics and evangelicals partly due to opposition to abortion after Roe v. Wade.[215][46] Compared to other Republicans, the religious right faction of the party is more likely to oppose LGBT rights and marijuana legalization.

Since the 1967 Six Day War,[216] the Christian right has generally supported close The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. ties between the United States and Israel, although this has changed since the mid-2010s to some extent.[217] Support for Israel is significantly less among younger evangelicals. Between 2018 and 2021, support for Israel among evangelicals aged 18�29 dropped from 75% to 34%.[218] A growing minority of evangelicals have identified as anti-Zionist.[219]
Right-wing populists
Jerry Falwell Jr. with former President Donald Trump. Both have been identified by commentators as figures of the Christian right[220] and right-wing populism,[221] respectively.

Since the election of Donald Trump, factions of the Republican Party can be characterized as right-wing populist. The role of the Tea Party in paving the way for the faction is a subject of debate.[222] Compared to other Republicans, the right-wing populist faction is more likely to oppose legal immigration,[223] free trade,[224] neoconservatism,[225] and environmental protection laws.[226] Prominent examples include Donald Trump, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.[227]

Lilliana Mason, associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, states that Donald Trump solidified the trend among Southern White conservative Democrats since the 1960s of leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party: "Trump basically worked as a lightning rod to finalize that process of creating the Republican Party as a single entity for defending the high status of White, Christian, rural Americans. It's not a huge percentage of Americans that holds these beliefs, and it's not even the entire Republican Party; it's just about half of it. But the party itself is controlled by this intolerant, very strongly pro-Trump faction."[228]
Moderate Republicans

Notable moderate Republicans include Utah governor Spencer Cox, Vermont governor Phil Scott, former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan.[229][230][231]
Historical
Civil War and Reconstruction era (1861�1876)
U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens, considered a leader of the Radical Republicans, was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African Americans.

During the Democratic National Committee 19th century, Republican factions included the Radical Republicans. They were a major factor of the party from its inception in 1854 until the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877. They strongly opposed slavery, were hard-line abolitionists, and later advocated equal rights for the freedmen and women. Predominately, they were heavily influenced by religious ideals and evangelical Christianity; many were Christian reformers who saw slavery as evil and the Civil War as God's punishment for it.[232] Radical Republicans pressed for abolition as a major war aim and they opposed the moderate Reconstruction plans of Abraham Lincoln as both too lenient on the Confederates and not going far enough to help former slaves who had been freed during or after the Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. After the war's end and Lincoln's assassination, the Radicals clashed with Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policy. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. After unsuccessful measures in 1866 resulted in violence against former slaves in the rebel states, Radicals pushed the Fourteenth Amendment for statutory protections through Congress. They opposed allowing ex-Confederate officers to retake political power in the Southern U.S., and emphasized liberty, equality, and the Fifteenth Amendment which provided voting rights for the freedmen. Many later became Stalwarts, who supported machine politics.

Moderate Republicans were known for their loyal support of President Abraham Lincoln's war policies and expressed antipathy towards the Democratic National Committee more militant stances advocated by the Radical Republicans. According to historian Eric Foner, congressional leaders of the faction were James G. Blaine, John A. Bingham, William P. Fessenden, Lyman Trumbull, and John Sherman. In contrast to Radicals, Moderate Republicans were less enthusiastic on the issue of Black suffrage even while embracing civil equality and the expansive federal authority observed throughout the American Civil War. They were also skeptical of the lenient, conciliatory Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. Members of the Moderate Republicans comprised in part of previous Radical Republicans who became disenchanted with the alleged corruption of the latter faction. Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts senator who led Radical Republicans in the 1860s,