Republican Party (United States)

Republican Party
Chairperson	Michael Whatley
Speaker of the House	Mike Johnson
Senate Minority Leader	Mitch McConnell
House Majority Leader	Steve Scalise
Founders	Alvan E. Bovay[1] Horace Greeley Edwin D. Morgan Henry Jarvis Raymond Amos Tuck Abraham Lincoln Francis Preston Blair
Founded	March 20, 1854; 170 years ago (1854-03-20) Ripon, Wisconsin, U.S.
Merger of	Free Soil Party Liberty Party Anti-Nebraska movement North American Party National Union Party
Preceded by	Whig Party (majority) Free Soil Party Liberty Party Anti-Nebraska movement North American Party
Headquarters	310 First Street SE, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Student wing	College Republicans
Youth wing	Young Republicans Teen Age Republicans High School Republican National Federation
Women's wing	National Federation of Republican Women
LGBT wing	Log Cabin Republicans[a]
Overseas wing	Republicans Overseas
Membership (2023)	35,739,952[3]
Ideology	Majority: Conservatism (American)[4] Factions: Social conservatism[5][6][4] Fiscal conservatism[7] Centrism[8] Christian right[9][10] Right-libertarianism (American)[11] Neoconservatism[11] Right-wing populism[12][13]
European affiliation	European Conservatives and Reformists Party (global partner)
International affiliation	International Democracy Union[14] Asia Pacific Democrat Union
Colors	Red
Seats in the Senate	49 / 100
Seats in the House of Representatives	220 / 435
State governorships	27 / 50
Seats in state upper chambers	1,110 / 1,973
Seats in state lower chambers	2,948 / 5,413
Territorial governorships	0 / 5
Seats in territorial upper chambers	12 / 97
Seats in territorial lower chambers	9 / 91
Election symbol
Website
gop.com

The United States Republican Party, also known as the GOP (Grand Old Party) is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States. Since the mid-1850s, the party's main opponent has been the Democratic Party. Both political parties have controlled American politics ever since.

Republicans are sometimes called the right or conservatives. Ideologically, it favors fiscal and social conservatism.^[15] It opposes abortion,^[16] euthanasia, labor unions, affirmative action,^[17] marijuana legalisation, and a high minimum wage.^[18] It advocates for low taxes,^[19] limited government,^[20] gun rights,^[21] free markets, and free trade.^[22] It did, however, hold protectionist opinions during its early days,^[23] for example during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. It also held anti-free trade opinions during Donald Trump’s presidency.^[24]

The symbol of the Republican party is the elephant. This symbol was first used in 1874 in a political cartoon by Thomas Nast.^[25]

The Republican National Committee, or the RNC, is the main organization for the Republican Party in all 50 states. The Republican Party is not the same political party as the Democratic-Republican Party. A state where most voters vote for Republican politicians is called a red state.

1. ↑ The Origin of the Republican Party Archived March 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine by A. F. Gilman, Ripon College, WI, 1914.
2. ↑ Sonmez, Felicia (November 23, 2021). "Republican National Committee dismisses call for Ronna McDaniel to resign as chairwoman over outreach to LGBTQ voters". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
3. ↑ Winger, Richard (December 29, 2023). "December 2023 Ballot Access News Print Edition". Ballot Access News. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Smith, Robert C. (2021). "Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and the Future of the Republican Party and Conservatism in America". American Political Thought. 10 (2): 283–289. doi:10.1086/713662. S2CID 233401184. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
5. ↑ Becker, Bernie (July 18, 2016). "Social conservatives win on GOP platform". Politico. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
6. ↑ "Republican Party". History. February 2021. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
7. ↑ Grumbach, Jacob M.; Hacker, Jacob S.; Pierson, Paul (2021), Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander; Hacker, Jacob S.; Thelen, Kathleen; Pierson, Paul (eds.), "The Political Economies of Red States", The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power, Cambridge University Press, pp. 209–244, ISBN 978-1316516362, archived from the original on November 23, 2021, retrieved November 10, 2021
8. ↑ Davis, Susan (August 23, 2019). "Meltdown On Main Street: Inside The Breakdown Of The GOP's Moderate Wing". NPR. Archived from the original on June 17, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
9. ↑ Haberman, Clyde (October 28, 2018). "Religion and Right-Wing Politics: How Evangelicals Reshaped Elections". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
10. ↑ Cohn, Nate (May 5, 2015). "Mike Huckabee and the Continuing Influence of Evangelicals". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 6, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Miller, William J. (2013). The 2012 Nomination and the Future of the Republican Party. Lexington Books. p. 39.
12. ↑ Cassidy, John (February 29, 2016). "Donald Trump is Transforming the G.O.P. Into a Populist, Nativist Party". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
13. ↑ Gould, J.J. (July 2, 2016). "Why Is Populism Winning on the American Right?". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
14. ↑ "Members". IDU. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015.
15. ↑ Smith, Robert C. (2021). "Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and the Future of the Republican Party and Conservatism in America". American Political Thought. 10 (2): 283–289. doi:10.1086/713662. S2CID 233401184.
16. ↑ "Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands". consent.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
17. ↑ Staff, Media Matters (10 June 2020). "Ben Shapiro: "The only aspects of American life that are legally racist are legally racist on behalf of minority groups"". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
18. ↑ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay; Smialek, Jeanna (2019-07-18). "House Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15, a Victory for Liberals". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
19. ↑ Appelbaum, Binyamin (2017-12-02). "Debt Concerns, Once a Core Republican Tenet, Take a Back Seat to Tax Cuts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
20. ↑ Jacobs, Nicholas F.; King, Desmond; Milkis, Sidney M. (June 2019). "Building a Conservative State: Partisan Polarization and the Redeployment of Administrative Power". Perspectives on Politics. 17 (2): 453–469. doi:10.1017/S1537592718003511. ISSN 1537-5927. S2CID 181764492.
21. ↑ Mitchell, Travis (2017-06-22). "1. The demographics of gun ownership". Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
22. ↑ Baldwin, Robert E. (2000). Congressional trade votes : from NAFTA approval to fast-track defeat. Georgetown University Law Library. Washington, DC : Institute for International Economics. ISBN 978-0-88132-267-5.
23. ↑ Frankel, Jeffrey. "The Republicans have a long history of protectionism". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
24. ↑ "Is the GOP Still the Party of Free Trade?". www.reaganfoundation.org. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
25. ↑ Cartoon of the Day: "The Third-Term Panic". Retrieved on 2008-09-01.