"GOP" redirects here. For other uses, see GOP (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with American Republican Party (1843), Democratic-Republican Party,
or National Republican Party.
Republican Party
Abbreviation GOP (Grand Old Party)
Chairperson Ronna McDaniel (MI)
U.S. President Donald Trump (FL)
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (IN)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA)
Founded March 20, 1854; 166 years ago
Preceded by Whig Party
Free Soil Party
Headquarters 310 First Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Student wing College Republicans
Youth wing Young Republicans
Teen Age Republicans
Women's wing National Federation of Republican
Women
Overseas wing Republicans Overseas
Membership (2020) 33,284,020[1]
Ideology Majority:
• Conservatism[2]
• Fiscal conservatism[3]
• Social conservatism[4][5][6]
Factions:
• Centrism[7]
• Libertarianism[8]
• Neoconservatism[8]
• Right-wing populism[9][10]
European affiliation European Conservatives and
Reformists Party[11] (regional partner)
International affiliation International Democrat Union[12]
Regional affiliation Asia Pacific Democrat Union[13]
Colors Red
Seats in the Senate 53 / 100
Seats in the House 197 / 435
State Governorships 26 / 50
State Upper Chamber 1,080 / 1,972
Seats
State Lower Chamber 2,773 / 5,411
Seats
Territorial 1/6
Governorships
Territorial Upper 12 / 97
Chamber Seats
Territorial Lower 14 / 91
Chamber Seats
Election symbol
Website
gop.com
Politics of United States
Political parties
Elections
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party), is one of
the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with its main rival,
the Democratic Party.
The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the
potential expansion of slavery into certain U.S. territories. The party supported classical
liberalism, opposed the expansion of slavery, and supported economic reform.[14][15] Abraham
Lincoln was the first Republican president. Under the leadership of Lincoln and a Republican
Congress, slavery was banned in the United States in 1865. The Party was generally dominant
during the Third Party System and the Fourth Party System. After 1912, the Party underwent an
ideological shift to the right.[16] Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of
1965, the party's core base shifted, with Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in
presidential politics.[17]The party's 21st-century base of support includes people living in rural
areas, men, the Silent Generation, white Americans, and evangelical Christians.[18][19][20][21]
The 21st-century Republican Party ideology is American conservatism, which incorporates
both economic policies and social values. The GOP supports lower taxes, free
market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, gun
rights, restrictions on abortion, deregulation and restrictions on labor unions. After the Supreme
Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party opposed abortion in its party
platform and grew its support among evangelicals.[22] The GOP was strongly committed
to protectionism and tariffs at its founding but grew more supportive of free trade in the 20th
century.
There have been 19 Republican presidents (including incumbent president Donald Trump, who
was elected in 2016), the most from any one political party. As of 2020, the GOP controls the
presidency, a majority in the U.S. Senate, a majority of state governorships, a majority (29) of
state legislatures, and 21 state government trifectas (governorship and both legislative
chambers). Five of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices were nominated by Republican
presidents.
