When is the 2024 Republican National Convention?

The 2024 race for the White House continues with the Republican and Democratic national conventions fast approaching.

Before every presidential election political parties in the United States hold national conventions to finalize the process of selecting candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. This year, the Republican National Convention takes place a month before the Democratic one.

The Republican National Convention takes place on July 15

This year, the Republican National Convention will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 15 to 18, 2024. At the ceremony, party delegates from the 50 states and six territories of the United States will officially select the candidates for president and vice president at the convention.

Although there are certain protocols in the event that there are several contenders, this year, Donald Trump is expected to be chosen as the Republican candidate since he picked up an overwhelming majority of the delegates during the primaries. The former president will most likely face President Biden, the presumptive Democratic candidate.

Trump will arrive at the convention after defeating Biden in the first presidential debate, but without yet having announced his running mate. So this important Republican party event will be attracting a lot of attention to see who will serve the role that Mike Pence held in Trump’s previous administration.

Trump is expected to accept the party’s nomination with a speech on July 18, the last night of the convention. Trump has said that he will choose his running mate soon tell Fox’s Sean Hannity “I’d love to do it during the convention.” Whoever that person is, they will address the convention on July 17.

Democrats will hold their national convention in Chicago from August 19 to 22, where President Biden is expected to be chosen as the official candidate despite several Democrats calling for him to withdraw from the race.

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How national conventions work

As mentioned above, a national convention is the event where the parties ratify the election of their candidates for president and vice president. To be nominated as a candidate for president, the candidate must win a majority of the delegates, which typically occurs during state primaries and caucuses.

The election is then confirmed by a vote of the delegates during the national convention. The candidate with the majority of delegates becomes the party's representative in the presidential election.

If no candidate wins a majority of delegates during the primaries and caucuses, then the convention delegates choose which candidate to nominate, that would happen through additional rounds of voting.

Once the candidate of the party that will go on to the presidential race has been chosen, they announce at the convention who will be their running mate, that is, who would be the vice president if they become the next occupant of the White House.

According to the usa.gov website, at national political conventions there are two main types of delegates: committed and uncommitted.

The former must support the candidate assigned to them during the primary or caucus process, while uncommitted delegates can support the presidential candidate of their preference. The majority of delegates at the conventions for both parties are committed, which are the only ones that vote in the first round, so there is little chance that another candidate besides either party’s presumptive nominee will not be chosen.