April 22, 2016

RNC CHAIRMAN REINCE PRIEBUS
2016 RNC SPRING MEETING ADDRESS
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA
APRIL 22, 2016

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

OPENING WORDS

Good afternoon and welcome to our Spring Meeting.
 
I want to get started by playing a video we produced that clarifies what happens during our nomination process. Take a look.
 
*Video Plays*
 
As you can see, we’ve taken the initiative to push back against the misconceptions floating around out there.
 
The rules for how we choose a nominee have been transparent and effective for decades and this year is no different.
 
I will say more about our Convention in a little bit but I will keep the rest of my remarks brief.
 
I’m proud of what we’ve done at the RNC over the last few years to put our party in prime position to win this election.
 
We’re holding our Convention in Cleveland, in the heart of one of the most important battleground states.
 
Our digital and data teams are adding staff and executing strategies across multiple platforms to raise money and connect with voters online. 
 
And our national field organization is making an important difference in registering new Republican voters. In those states with a permanent RNC field presence, Republicans have soared by over 70% since 2012.
 
These accomplishments are significant. But they will mean very little unless we unite around whoever our nominee will be.
 
It is essential to victory in November that we all support our candidate.
 
This goes for everyone, whether you’re a county party chairman, an RNC member, or a presidential candidate.
 
Politics is a team sport and we can’t win unless we rally around whoever becomes our nominee.
 
I want to prove the doubters wrong and show that Republicans are going to stand side by side with one another stronger than ever before.
 
And our candidates have a special opportunity to show leadership on this front.
 
Our candidates are running for the nomination of the Republican Party.
 
They’re trying out for our team.
 
No one is forcing them to wear our jersey. We expect our candidates to support our Party and our eventual nominee.
 
Now I know our candidates are going to say some things to attract attention. That’s part of politics. But we all need to get behind the nominee.
 
Unity makes the impossible…possible. Division makes the possible… impossible.
 
Scripture warns us about how the “root of bitterness” can easily damage unity in the church.
 
But the Psalms also describe how “good and pleasant it is when God’s people dwell in unity.”
 
The same applies for our Party. 
 
Millions of Americans are going to vote in November. But they are making decisions right now about who they will vote for down the line. 
 
The sooner Republicans unite, the sooner we will show America we are the only Party ready to lead the course correction America is waiting for.
 
That brings me to my second point.
 
As you saw from the video, we are working hard to lay out what might happen at our Convention.
 
I think it’s good to remember the preamble to the RNC Rules, which says:
 
BE IT RESOLVED, that 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.
 
Our duty is to be a Party that lives up to the ideals put forth in our preamble.
 
And that is exactly what we are doing at the RNC as we prepare for a fair, democratic, and transparent Convention.
 
In March we launched our ConventionFacts.gop website to make sure everyone is fully informed about what might take place at our Convention.
 
A few weeks ago, we launched our Grassroots Assistance Project to welcome, educate, and engage delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention.
 
As our nomination process goes on, we are preparing for all possible scenarios. We might have a nominee by July. Or we might have a nominee through the balloting process at the Convention.
 
The rules say you have to have 1,237 delegates to be the nominee. We aren’t going to hand the nomination to anyone with a plurality, no matter how close they are to 1,237. You need a majority. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
 
We all remember the fight in 2009 over Obamacare when it looked like Obama was going to be 3 votes short. We didn't say, “Oh he's almost there, let's give it to him.”  He had to get a majority.
 
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends.”
 
If we don’t abide by the majority, we don’t honor one of the bedrock values of American government. Majority rule is as American as apple pie or Opening Day.
 
If no candidate reaches a majority of bound delegates during the primary process, we will go to an open…or contested…Convention.
 
The balloting process is nothing new to our party. It’s the way we have done things since the 1800s.
 
It took Abraham Lincoln three ballots to get a majority in 1860. Heck, it took me seven to get elected Chairman of the RNC!
 
The process of writing the rules will also be completely above board.
 
Having a committee write a set of rules that govern the body isn’t unique to the Republican National Committee—it’s true for the Boy Scouts the Rotary Club, or any other group that has organizational structure.
 
It only makes sense that the 2016 Convention is governed by rules written by 2016 delegates.
 
The rules will be presented to and voted on by the entire slate of delegates. Everyone is going to get a chance to see – and vote on – the proposed changes.
 
Fairness and transparency will be the hallmark of our Convention.
 
The whole world will be watching the democratic process at work and we are excited to show off the best our party has to offer.
 
Regardless of when we get a nominee, the bottom line is Republicans will leave Cleveland united and ready to win in November.
 
And there’s one more thing that we need to do. We need to stop Hillary Clinton.
 
The country can’t afford a dishonest career flip-flopper who is chomping at the bit to rubber stamp more of the extreme Obama agenda.
 
We know she wants to appoint a left-wing justice to the Supreme Court who will make President Obama’s lawless presidency permanent and treat the Constitution as a doormat.
 
Our party is focused on the future, but she wants to drag us back to the 1990s. Her secret server probably ran on Windows 95.
 
Speaking of which, the FBI investigation into her secret email server is still going full speed ahead. We’re seeing former staffers getting immunity to testify. If that’s not a sign of trouble, I don’t know what is. 
 
Our RNC Communications team is working around the clock to hold her accountable for her track record of cover-ups and dishonesty. We’re making sure Americans know she can’t be trusted in the White House.
 
By the way, we had almost record turnout for the media at an RNC meeting.  We never miss an opportunity to drive a message so you may have noticed that to access the Wi-Fi the password was "Hillary can't be trusted.”
 
The Clinton Machine is on the warpath against Republicans because they’re desperate to hide all the flaws in her candidacy. They know Americans don’t like her and don’t trust her.
 
We need to be prepared for how they are going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at our candidates because it’s her only hope for victory.
 
In conclusion, we know the stakes are higher than ever for this election.
 
If we don’t win in 2016, future generations might never know the kind of freedom and prosperity that has marked our nation from its birth.
 
That might sound dramatic. But it’s true.
 
And it will be more difficult than ever for our party to make the case for our values in the face of a president who wants to put the Obama agenda on steroids.
 
But that isn’t going to happen on our watch.
 
It isn’t going to happen because we are going to come together.
 
There’s inspiration for us in that great book about Lincoln’s presidency that came out a few years ago, Team of Rivals.
 
There were four men running to be the Republican nominee in 1860. Whoever won was going to lead the nation in the face of a gathering storm.
 
Well we know the end of the story. Lincoln won the nomination. But the three other men running that year went on to rally around him and later even served in his cabinet.
 
They had their differences, to be sure. But even though all four often disagreed with each other, they didn’t just take their marbles and go home.
 
They knew the challenges facing the country were too steep to justify splintering apart.
 
They worked together because they knew it was the right thing to do for the country.
 
We as Republicans today are bound together by the same shared love of country. We know the American story is precious and the freedoms we enjoy are not easy to keep.
 
The legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi once said “the achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
 
I know if each of us does our part right now our efforts will amount to something great.
 
There’s no other group of people I would rather be in the trenches with than you here today.
 
Your patriotism is true. Your convictions are clear. I’m proud to be carrying on the fight with you.
 
There’s no limits to what we as a party can accomplish together.
 
Let’s make this year a Republican year together.
 
Let’s put a Republican president back in the White House together.
 
Thank you, and God bless America.
  
###

Democratic National Committee
April 21, 2016

DNC Chair, Florida Dems Hold Call on GOP’s Full-scale Florida Freak-out 

Today, DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Florida Representative Ted Deutch will host a press call to discuss the mad scramble happening in Florida this week over the Republican National Committee’s convention rules. With Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the New York primary, it’s clear he’s the only candidate that can win a majority of first-ballot delegates. With the hopes of saving their own flagging campaigns, Ted Cruz and John Kasich frantically flew to Florida to try to convince party insiders to block Trump – the candidate with the most votes and most delegates – from winning the nomination. In the New York primary, exit polling showed 68 percent of Democratic voters felt their primary had energized the party, while 57 percent of Republican voters said their primary had divided the party. With Republicans all over the map pledging to skip this summer’s Republican Convention, it’s clear the GOP is in a full-scale freak-out.