Tim Scott RNC speech, 2020

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The Republican Party held its national convention from August 24-27, 2020.

Limited in-person events took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. On July 23, 2020, President Donald Trump announced that high-profile convention events previously moved to Jacksonville, Florida, including his nomination acceptance speech, had been canceled for public health and safety reasons. Trump formally accepted the party's nomination from the White House.

The convention was originally scheduled to take place entirely in Charlotte but statewide restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic led to the convention's planned relocation to Jacksonville. The Republican National Committee Executive Committee voted to downsize the convention in Charlotte, reducing the number of in-person delegates from 2,500 to 336. The committee also decided to adopt the 2016 platform again since the Platform Committee would not be meeting.

At the convention, party delegates typically select the Republican presidential nominee and vote to adopt a platform outlining the party's policy priorities and values. According to presidential historian Tevi Troy, however, "conventions today remain largely party advertising opportunities rather than fora for real decision-making."

Tim Scott's speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention

This section provides the text and video of the 2020 Republican National Convention speech given by Sen. Tim Scott on August 24, 2020.

Transcript

“	Good evening, To all of you tuning in and participating in the political process, God bless you. This isn't how I pictured tonight, but our country is experiencing something none of us envisioned. From a global pandemic, to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, 2020 has tested our nation in ways we haven't seen for decades. But regardless of the challenges presented to us...every four years...Americans come together to vote...To share stories of what makes our nation strong, and the lessons we have learned that can strengthen it further for our children and grandchildren. Because while this election is between Donald Trump and Joe Biden...it is not solely about Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It's about the promise of America. It's about you and me...our challenges and heartbreaks, hopes and dreams. It's about how we respond when tackling critical issues like police reform...when Democrats called our work a token effort, and walked out of the room during negotiations because they wanted the ISSUE more than they wanted a solution. Do we want a society that breeds success, or a culture that cancels everything it even slightly disagrees with? I know where I stand, because you see, I am living my mother's American Dream. My parents divorced when I was 7 years old. We lived in a two bedroom house with my grandparents...me, my mom and my brother sharing a room and a bed. My mom worked 16 hours a day to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. She knew that if we could find the opportunity, bigger things would come. I thought I had to use football to succeed in life...and my focus on academics faded away. I failed my freshman year of high school -- four subjects...Spanish, English, world geography, and civics. Trust me, after spending 7 years in the Senate, I know I'm not the only one in Congress who failed civics. But even while I was failing the 9th grade... my mother always said, "when you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you will be among the stars." She never lost faith in me, even when I lost faith in myself. Because of her encouragement, I went to summer school and caught up. The next year I met my mentor, John Moniz...a Chick Fil-a operator. John saw something in me that I could not see in myself, and started teaching me valuable lessons in life... Like, having a job was a good thing, but creating jobs would be better. That having an income could change my lifestyle, but creating a profit could change my community! He planted the seeds of what would become Opportunity Zones -- this initiative the President and I worked together on is bringing over 75 billion dollars of private sector investment into distressed communities. I took those lessons to heart...and started putting the pieces of my life together. I realized a quality education is the closest thing we have to magic in America. That's why I fight to this day for school choice...to make sure every child, in every neighborhood has a quality education. I don't care if it's a public, private, charter, virtual or home school. When a parent has a choice, their kid has a better chance. And the President has fought alongside me on that. Later in life, I started my own successful small business. That's why I know it is critical for us to have a tax code that encourages growth. We actually saw revenues to the Treasury increase after we lowered taxes in 2017. Rest assured, Democrats do not want you to know that! After starting my business and spending time in local government, I ran for Congress in 2010. The district is based in Charleston, South Carolina...where the Civil War started...against a son of our legendary Senator, Strom Thurmond. You may be asking yourself how does a poor black kid...from a single parent household...run and win a race in a crowded Republican primary against a Thurmond? Because of the evolution of the heart, in an overwhelmingly white district... the voters judged me on the content of my character, not the color of my skin. We live in a world that only wants you to believe in the bad news... racially, economically and culturally-polarizing news. The truth is, our nation's arc always bends back towards fairness. We are not fully where we want to be...but thank God we are not where we used to be! We are always striving to be better...When we stumble, and we will, we pick ourselves back up and try again. We don't give into cancel-culture, or the radical -- and factually baseless -- belief that things are worse today than in the 1860s or the 1960s. We have work to do...but I believe in the goodness of America...the promise that all men, and all women are created equal. And if you're watching tonight, I'm betting you do, too. Over the past four years, we have made tremendous progress towards that promise. President Trump built the most inclusive economy ever. 7 million jobs created pre-COVID-19, two thirds of which went to women, African-Americans and Hispanics. The first new, major effort to tackle poverty in a generation -- Opportunity Zones. We put hard earned tax dollars back in people's pockets by cutting their taxes, especially for single parent households like the one I grew up in - cutting single mother's taxes 70% on average. President Trump supported these tax cuts for those single moms, and other working families, and signed these policies into law...and our nation is better off for it. So, I'm going to ask you...the American people...not to look simply at what the candidates say...but to look back at what they've done. This election is about your future, and it's critical to paint a full picture of the records of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Joe Biden said if a black man didn't vote for him, he wasn't truly black. Joe Biden said black people are a monolithic community. Joe Biden said poor kids can be just as smart as white kids. And while his words are one thing, his actions take it to a whole new level. In 1994, Biden led the charge on a crime bill that put millions of black Americans behind bars... President Trump's criminal justice reform law fixed many of the disparities Biden created and made our system more fair and just for all Americans. Joe Biden failed our nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities... heaping blame on them as they fought to ensure our young folks had access to higher education. Once again, to clean up Joe Biden's mess, President Trump signed into law historically high funding for HBCUs, as well as a bill to give them permanent funding for the first time ever! And now, Joe Biden wants to come for your pocketbooks.... Unless you're a blue state millionaire. I'm serious -- that's one of their solutions for the pandemic. They want more money you're your pocket...going to help Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls get a tax break. Republicans, however, passed President Trump's once-in-a-generation tax reform bill that lowered taxes for single moms, working families and those in need. So, when it comes to what Joe Biden says he'll do...Look at his actions. Look at his policies. Look at what he already did and did not do while he's been in Washington for 47 years. Ladies and gentlemen, people don't always see those failures, because they think we're having a policy debate on two sides of an issue. That is not what is happening. Our side is working on policy -- while Joe Biden's radical Democrats are trying to permanently transform what it means to be an American. Make no mistake: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a cultural revolution. A fundamentally different America. If we let them...they will turn our country into a socialist utopia...and history has taught us that path only leads to pain and misery, especially for hard-working people hoping to rise. Instead, we must focus on the promise of the American journey. I know that journey well. My grandfather's 99th birthday would have been tomorrow. Growing up, he had to cross the street if a white person was coming. He suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third grader to pick cotton, and never learned to read or write. Yet, he lived to see his grandson become the first African American to be elected to both the United States House and Senate. Our family went from Cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that's why I believe the next American century can be better than the last. There are millions of families like mine across this nation...full of potential seeking to live the American Dream. And I'm here tonight to tell you that supporting the Republican ticket gives you the best chance of making that dream a reality. God Bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.	”
—Tim Scott, August 24, 2020

Video

Tim Scott at the 2020 Republican National Convention

Republican National Convention keynote addresses, 1992-2016

Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) at the 2016 Republican National Convention

The following Republican Party members and elected officials were the keynote speakers at Republican national conventions between 1992 and 2016.

• Joni Ernst, senator from Iowa (2016)
• Chris Christie, then-governor of New Jersey (2012)
• Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City (2008)
• Zell Miller, then-senator from Georgia (2004)
• John McCain, then-senator from Arizona (2000)
• Colin Powell, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2000)
• Susan Molinari, then-representative from New York (1996)
• Phil Gramm, then-senator from Texas (1992)

2020 Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2020

The Republican Party held its presidential nominating convention August 24-27, 2020. The first day took place in Charlotte, North Carolina, before moving to Jacksonville, Florida, for the event's final three days.

Click on any of the links below to learn more about the 2020 Republican National Convention and the Republican primary process:

• 2020 Republican National Convention schedule and speakers
• Donald Trump presidential nomination acceptance speech, 2020
• Mike Pence vice presidential nomination acceptance speech, 2020
• Republican National Convention keynote address, 2020
• Republican presidential nomination, 2020
• Republican delegate rules, 2020

2016 Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2016

The Republican National Committee held its presidential nominating convention from July 18-21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. Donald Trump received the party's nomination.

Click on any of the links below to learn more about the 2016 Republican National Convention:

• Rules of the 2016 Republican National Convention
• RNC Rules Committee, 2016
• RNC Standing Committee on Rules
• Rule 12 and the 2016 Republican National Convention
• Rule 16 and the 2016 Republican National Convention
• Rule 40 and the 2016 Republican National Convention
• The Republican Platform and RNC Platform Committee, 2016
• Republican delegates by state, 2016
• Conscience clause and the Republican National Convention, 2016
• Brokered conventions

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See also

• Presidential election, 2020
• Republican National Convention, 2020
• Republican National Convention, 2016
• Republican National Committee
• Democratic National Convention, 2020

External links

• 2020 Republican National Convention