Republican presidential nomination, 2020

2020 Presidential Election Date: November 3, 2020

Presidential candidates Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen

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The Republican Party selected President Donald Trump as its presidential nominee at the 2020 Republican National Convention, which was held from August 24-27, 2020.^[1]

Prior to the national convention, individual state caucuses and primaries were held to allocate convention delegates. These delegates vote at the convention to select the nominee. Trump crossed the delegate threshold necessary to win the nomination—1,276 delegates—on March 17, 2020.

George H.W. Bush (R) was the last incumbent to face a serious primary challenge, defeating political commentator Pat Buchanan in 1992. He was also the last president to lose his re-election campaign. Franklin Pierce (D) was the first and only elected president to lose his party's nomination in 1856.^[2]

Sixteen U.S. presidents—approximately one-third—have won two consecutive elections.

Republican National Convention[edit]

See also: Republican National Convention, 2020 and Republican delegate rules, 2020

The Republican Party held its national convention from August 24-27, 2020.^[3]

Limited in-person events took place in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[4] On July 23, 2020, President Donald Trump announced that high-profile convention events previously moved to Jacksonville, Florida, including his nomination acceptance speech, had been canceled for public health and safety reasons. Trump formally accepted the party's nomination from the White House.^[5][6][7][8]

The convention was originally scheduled to take place entirely in Charlotte but statewide restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic led to the convention's planned relocation to Jacksonville.^[9] The Republican National Committee Executive Committee voted to downsize the convention in Charlotte, reducing the number of in-person delegates from 2,500 to 336. The committee also decided to adopt the 2016 platform again since the Platform Committee would not be meeting.^[10]

At the convention, party delegates typically select the Republican presidential nominee and vote to adopt a platform outlining the party's policy priorities and values. According to presidential historian Tevi Troy, however, "conventions today remain largely party advertising opportunities rather than fora for real decision-making."^[11]

Republican candidates on 5 or more ballots[edit]

See also: Presidential candidates, 2020

In addition to President Donald Trump, the following candidates appeared on five or more Republican primary ballots:

Withdrawn Republican candidates[edit]

See also: Timeline of announcements in the presidential election, 2020

• Mark Sanford (R), former governor of South Carolina, withdrew on November 12, 2019.^[12]
• Joe Walsh (R), a former U.S. representative from Illinois, withdrew February 7, 2020.^[13]
• Bill Weld (R), former governor of Massahchusetts, withdrew on March 18, 2020.^[14]

Potential Republican candidates[edit]

See also: Presidential candidates, 2020

As of March 2026, the following 12 politicians and public figures had been discussed as potential candidates for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Individuals in this list will be removed or added based on statements from candidates on their potential candidacy and media reports.

Politicians[edit]

Business executives and public figures[edit]

• Mark Cuban, investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks^[20]
• Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard^[16]

Campaign finance[edit]

See also: Presidential election campaign finance, 2020

The following chart shows Republican presidential campaign fundraising, including both total receipts and contributions from individuals, as well as campaign spending. Figures for each candidate run through the end of June 2020 or through the final reporting period during which the candidate was actively campaigning for president. The total disbursements column includes operating expenditures, transfers to other committees, refunds, loan repayments, and other disbursements.^[21]

PredictIt markets[edit]

See also: PredictIt markets in the 2020 presidential election

General election[edit]

Republican primary debates[edit]

As of March 2026, the Republican National Committee had not released any information about possible Republican primary debates.

Campaign logos[edit]

The following chart includes the campaign logo and slogan for each Republican presidential candidate.

2020 Republican presidential candidate logos
Candidate	Logo	Slogan
Donald Trump		Make America Great Again Promises Made, Promises Kept

List of 2020 registered Republican presidential candidates[edit]

Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees, 1900-2016[edit]

The following chart shows the Republican presidential ticket from every presidential election between 1900 and 2016.

Footnotes[edit]

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