In addition to next week's official nomination of Donald Trump as their nominee for president, members of the Republican National Committee will also vote on their party's platform — the first update to the GOP's statement of principles since 2016.
This week, the RNC's Platform Committee, by an overwhelming margin, voted to approve the draft of the party's new platform compiled with help from Former President Donald Trump himself as he looks to retake the White House. The proposed platform is concise and straightforward — by design.
Townhall spoke with U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — who chaired the RNC's platform committee — this week about her work orchestrating the 2024 platform's compilation and swift approval through the committee ahead of next week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
"One of the things that we heard from people was it's too long and nobody ever reads it," Sen. Blackburn told Townhall of previous Republican platforms. The newest pending iteration shepherded by the Tennessee Republican, in addition to a clear statement of Republican principles, includes a punch list of twenty promises to the American people that Republicans will work toward if elected to repair the damage done by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.
"There are so many issues," Sen. Blackburn emphasized to Townhall of the damage wrought by Biden and his party through bad policies that Republicans are chomping at the bit to remedy. The 2024 platform, Sen. Blackburn said, "needed to be something that, of course, states our principles and is aspirational, but in addition to that has a to-do list that says, 'If you elect Donald Trump, and Republicans in the Senate and House, and Republicans at the state level and at the local level, here are the things we will do."
In addition to being a clear outline of what Republicans up and down the ballot will work toward after this election, the list of promises included in the 2024 platform allows voters to hold GOP candidates accountable after this November.
"One of the nice things about having the twenty promises of things we're going to work on is it actually gives people a checklist, and they can keep up with what kind of progress we're making," Sen. Blackburn explained to Townhall. "Whether it's securing the border, getting inflation under control, dealing with a strong military — any of these issues, they can keep up with us."
In addition to her experiences as a lawmaker, Sen. Blackburn told Townhall her and her platform committee colleagues' conversations with Americans had "a tremendous impact" on the 2024 platform. "As the platform committee staff worked on this, they talked to people all over the country — 'What would you like to see in a platform?' 'What kind of document would you like?' — and this is what we came up with," she said.
"This platform is dedicated to the forgotten men and women of America," Sen. Blackburn emphasized to Townhall. "This is a platform 'of, by, and for the people,' and it is done by 'we, the people.'"
One of the people involved in the process is none other than the man at the top of the Republican ticket this November. "President Trump reviewed, edited, and approved the platform," Sen. Blackburn confirmed to Townhall of the draft easily approved earlier this week, reportedly in an 84-18 vote.
The more succinct 16-page declaration of Republican values and policy goals "is different" and "a change," but it's "a positive change," Sen. Blackburn told Townhall. "We reaffirmed our principles but did it in a more simple, concise manner than platforms in the past."
"It is something people can print off, they can take it to church, they can take it to work, they can share it with their neighbors as they're talking to them about the election," Sen. Blackburn explained to Townhall.
Following the draft's approval by the committee helmed by Sen. Blackburn, former President Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the document encapsulates Republicans' "forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly when we win the White House and Republican Majorities in the House and Senate. We are, quite simply, the Party of Common Sense!" Trump added. "America needs determined Republican Leadership at every level of Government to address the core threats to our very survival."
Join the conversation as a VIP Member