Overview
The 2016 Republican Presidential Primary is the preliminary round in the Republican party’s candidate selection process for the upcoming 2016 general election for the presidency of the United States. The series of state caucuses and primaries will begin in February 2016 and end the following June.
Background
Following the defeat of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to Barack Obama in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, the Republican National Committee passed new party rules to condense the period of primary elections by nearly half, from six months to three-and-a-half, due to widespread concerns that a longer season could harm the leading candidate’s campaign. On April 6th, 2014, The Washington Post[1] published an article about the potential Republican party candidates for the upcoming election, noting they were beginning to “quietly study up on issues and cultivate ties to pundits and luminaries from previous administrations.”
Notable Developments
Official Candidate Announcements
On March 23rd, 2015, Ted Cruz declared his bid for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election (shown below, left). On April 7th, Rand Paul announced his candidacy for presidency (shown below, right). That day, Paul’s Twitter feed began encouraging supporters to tweet photographs of themselves holding signs with the hashtag “#StandWithRand.”
On April 13th, Marco Rubio announced he was joining the presidential race during a press conference in Miami, Florida (shown below, left). On May 5th, former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee declared his bid in the 2016 election (shown below, right).
On May 27th, Rick Santorum announced his plans to run for president from a factory in Cabot, Pennsylvania (shown below, left). On June 14th, former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush tweeted a teaser logo for his upcoming presidential campaign, featuring the name “Jeb” followed by an exclamation point. The following day, Bush officially announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 United States Presidential election.
On June 16th, Donald Trump announced his bid for the Republican nomination (shown below, left). On June 24th, Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal announced his presidential bid and uploaded a video to YouTube in which he tells his children about his decision to run for president (shown below, right).
Potential Candidates
Additional Republicans who have yet to officially announce candidacy but have publicly shown interest or formed an exploratory committees include Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, Governor of Ohio John Kasich, Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, former Governor of Maryland Bob Ehrlick, former Governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore and New York congressman Peter T. King.
Debates
In January 2015, the Republican National Committee released the schedule for the upcoming Republican presidential debates, the first of which will be held on August 6th, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.[2]
Primaries and Caucuses
The first caucus will be held on February 1st, 2016 in Iowa.
Search Interest
External References
[1]The Washington Post – In the credentials caucus