Why Summer Conventions Could Surprise Us? Party Rules Can Change.
In mid-March, we citizens—and the news media—accepted a simple 2024 election narrative: the nominees of both major parties were secure; there was no “path” to an alternate candidate’s nomination barring an unforeseen, game-changing event.
This notion stemmed from flawed assumptions regarding the authority of party bylaws: Delegates are “pledged” to candidates; once a majority of delegates is “earned,” the primary season is over—even if only a fraction of US citizens voted. The rules lock us in.
Fortunately, they do not. If we consider the purpose of elections, the responsibilities of parties, and our shared values of freedom and fairness, we can well imagine an alternate scenario. The Republican National Committee and delegates could restore the integrity of the nominating process during the July convention by showcasing their top two primary candidates in a meaningful way—by an interview, chat, panel discussion, or other forum.
Why is this essential? Because of unexpected turns in the presidential election cycle. Normally, five distinct phases play out for the non-incumbent party:
Public declarations of candidacy
Televised primary debates
Primary elections in all 50 states plus U.S. territories over five months
National conventions and nominations
Televised presidential debates
We’re currently between Phases 3 and 4. The primary season ended early June and convention season starts July 15. But a surprise early debate between two 'presumptive' nominees may throw the whole sequence out of order, both procedurally and ethically. Here’s why:
The candidates are not yet official nominees. (They become official at the conventions.)
The candidates and their campaign managers bypassed the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organizing tradition for the past 32 years.
One candidate bypassed all the presidential primary debates for the first time ever. Past candidates have skipped some, but not all debates. (Do we really want to set this new precedent?)
In sports, when teams break rules, they’re penalized or disqualified. Here, the two leading Republican candidates never debated one another, and two presidential campaigns have jumped the gun.
To know if there's recourse, we need to know what political parties are—and what they aren’t. Today's political parties are nonprofit entities with missions to nominate, support, and help elect qualified candidates for public office. They primarily operate on the state, county, and local levels through thousands of volunteers. New Jersey's Democratic State Committee, for example, has over a hundred representatives—with equal numbers of men and women from each county. The Republican National Committee (RNC) includes pairs of representatives, plus chairs, from every U.S. state and territory. These are broadly delegated and diversified structures—quite unlike, for instance, a Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Further, U.S. political parties are not private, nor “owned” by any one person or group. No membership dues are required; no cards are issued. They’re not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
Our two major parties also have published bylaws—like operating manuals—describing how they conduct business, select delegates and alternates, organize conventions, and nominate candidates. Both have clear commitments to equal representation of men and women on committees. After a tumultuous 1968 convention in Chicago, rules were added that could “pledge” delegates to candidates based on primary elections, to expedite a majority win on a first ballot.
But operating bylaws are not public laws, nor legally binding. Their intent is good governance, not to trap citizens. So there’s an escape clause: if party rules are causing a problem, they can be suspended to resolve the issue and prevent harm to the public.
Here is the RNC's Rule No. 32, entitled “Suspension of Rules”: A motion to suspend the rules shall always be in order, but only when made by authority of a majority of delegates from any state, and seconded by a majority of delegates from each of seven (7) or more other states, severally. Just 8 out of 50 state delegations, a 15% minority, can bring rule suspension forward for discussion. A fairly low bar!
We should not accept having no opportunity to compare the two leading Republican presidential challengers through a proper debate. This omission should be addressed and corrected. The Republican National Committee and delegates could take remedial action in July to ensure basic fairness, inclusivity, and a presidential nomination process that has integrity now and in the future.
When thousands of convention delegates gather in Milwaukee for days of policy debates, keynote speeches, dialog and deliberation, the nominees for president and vice president will at last become official during a roll call vote of state delegations. The presidential nominee’s acceptance speech follows.
As the Preamble to the Rules of the RNC says: “The Republican Party is the party of the open door. Ours is the party of liberty, the party of equality, of opportunity for all, and favoritism for none.” May these words resonate at the July 2024 convention.
Susan Haig is founding trustee and board vice-president of CivicStory and Conductor of the South Orange Symphony. Marian Glenn is board secretary for CivicStory and retired biology and honors humanities professor at Seton Hall University.