RNC chair says GOP will roll out ‘overwhelmingly positive’ vision at convention

Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), said Sunday that his party will roll out an “overwhelmingly positive” vision for America at the convention in a few weeks.

“We’re going to have a fantastic convention. We’re very, very excited about it. We’re going to have 50,000 delegates, guests and members of the media that are going to be in Milwaukee, and they’re going to see us roll out a vision for America that is going to be overwhelmingly positive,” Whatley said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” when Chris Stirewalt asked what media should expect from the convention.

“We’re really excited about being able to present Donald Trump as our nominee to go forward with it,” Whatley added.

The Republican National Convention is slated to take place July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wis., just four days after Trump is slated to face sentencing after he was found guilty in a New York criminal trial last month.

Stirewalt noted that Republicans punted on outlining a specific platform in 2020 and has evolved in its views significantly since 2016, when the party supported military assistance for Ukraine and a national ban on abortions at 20 weeks.

“Our platform is going to be pro-America. It is going to be pro-life. It is going to be pro-economy,” Whatley said, without providing specifics. “It is going to be fantastic across the board in terms of what it’s going to say about America. And we think that everybody is going to be happy with it, and we’re really excited about the opportunity to roll out into the general election campaign with Donald Trump as our formal nominee.”

Wisconsin is poised to play a major role in November’s election between Trump and President Biden. Trump narrowly won the state in 2016, then lost it to Biden in 2020 by roughly 20,000 votes. A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average of polls shows Biden leading in Wisconsin by 0.1 percentage points, a virtual tie.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.