EXCLUSIVE – Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn celebrated her successful leadership overseeing the panel charged with crafting the platform for the Republican National Committee, touting the GOP’s 2024 platform as a “concise” document that “will draw more Americans to the Republican Party.”
“The reason it earned the adoption so quickly is because people got it this morning. They were able to quickly read through it – because it is a total of 16 pages. And as they looked through it, they thought, ‘This is really good. It is solid. It is hitting the issues that the American people are talking about.’ And one of the complaints that we have heard from people is, well, ‘Look, that platform is so long, nobody reads it, it gets used against our candidates, by their opponents, and it is time for us to be simple, concise and specific about what we’re going to do,” Blackburn told Fox News Digital in a phone interview Monday evening.
The Republican National Committee’s Platform Committee, which Blackburn served as chairwoman, overwhelmingly passed its draft party platform Monday in an 84-12 vote. The draft, itled the “2024 GOP PLATFORM: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” walks voters through 20 promises former President Trump, as well as other Republican officials, are making to voters ahead of November, including sealing the border and ending the “migrant invasion,” ending inflation, preventing “World War Three” and uniting the U.S. “by bringing it to new and record levels of success.”
Blackburn explained to Fox News Digital that the platform was crafted to address top voter concerns Trump has personally heard from the American people, brushing off questions regarding whether the platform was written with the Democratic Party’s disarray in mind, or whether President Biden would actually be the party’s nominee come November.
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Then-President Trump looks on Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is running for U.S. Senate, speaks during a rally at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on May 29, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Getty Images)
“We’re going to let the Democrats sort their issues out,” Blackburn said when asked about the Democratic Party’s current disarray. “What I can say is this platform is going to be well received by so many people. We’ve already heard from so many people how well received it is. And that they’re so pleased to see instead of an 80-page, 60-page, 100-, 200-page document, that this is something that they can take to lunch, to their coffee group, to their Bunco group, their Sunday school class, and they can read it and discuss it, and use it to get people involved in the process and voting in November.”
When asked if the platform was crafted with the intention of defeating Biden in November or perhaps another nominee as calls mount for Biden to bow out of the race over concerns regarding his mental acuity, Blackburn said it was designed with a focus on the American people.
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“This platform is crafted to make certain that the American people know what Republicans are for, and they know what President Trump is for. This platform is simple, concise, easy to read, and it will be used from candidates from your local, state and federal elections. And it is a document we will use to send President Donald Trump back to the White House.”
Former President Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates on Sept. 3, 2022 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Blackburn said that Trump personally had input on the platform, noting he “read it, reviewed it, edited it, and approved it,” and also called into the platform comittee’s meeting on Monday.
“As we got started on today’s activities, President Trump called in, and wished everyone well, thanked everyone for volunteering to be there and serving on the platform committee. And talked about some of the issues that he is hearing and the broad net that they cast,” she said.
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Blackburn pointed to Trump’s recent vow that if re-elected, workers in the service industry would no longer face taxes on their tips, pointing Fox Digital to point number six of the platform, which reads: “LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!”
“That gives you an idea of how granular this was to what he is hearing, what many of us who are in elected office are hearing. And what the American people are saying: ‘Would you please put some attention on these issues that affect us.’ And I think that really is one of the primary points … this election is about them. It’s not about the bureaucrats. It’s not about elected officials. It is about them and their way of life,” she said.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., blasted President Biden’s Title IX expansion, saying the administration continues its assault on opportunities for young women. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Blackburn touted that, unlike previous party platforms that dragged on for dozens of pages, the 2024 platform is “simple” and easily digested by the American people.
“I am one of those that has for years said we need to make this simple. It doesn’t have to be long. It needs to be concise. It needs to be simply stated, and it should be something that people look forward to printing out and reading and sharing with their friends,” she said.
The platform this election cycle notably only mentions abortion once, instead focusing on the preservation of life and returning power to the states when developing laws surrounding abortion. Blackburn said that when the platform was drafted, committee members had to take into account the Dobbs decision of 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ended the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and ruled that individual states have the power to allow, limit or ban abortion procedures.
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“And so, having as we do with all other issues, whether it’s defending religious liberty, or protecting free speech, or working to end the gender insanity – this left-wing gender insanity – and protecting our rights and freedoms. What the platform says is we proudly stand for families and for life.”
“We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process, and that the United States are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights. And that was a very appropriate way to approach this. This responsibility has come back to the states. The states are in the lead on this,” she continued.
Trump touted the platform on his Truth Social account on Monday as a “forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly” while thanking Blackburn and Florida Rep. Michael Waltz, who served as vice chair on the committee, for their “tireless work to PUT AMERICA FIRST.”
Former President Trump speaks during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on Nov. 7, 2022 in Vandalia, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“We are, quite simply, the Party of Common Sense! America needs determined Republican Leadership at every level of Government to address the core threats to our very survival: Our disastrously Open Border, our weakened Economy, Inflation, crippling restrictions on American Energy Production, our depleted Military, attacks on the American System of Justice, the Weaponization of Politics, and much more,” he wrote.
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Following its committee passage Monday, the platform will go to a full vote Tuesday before it is officially approved at the Republican National Convention next week in Milwaukee.
“This is something that will draw more Americans to the Republican Party. I quite honestly believe that when they print this document off and look at it, they’re going to open that first page and see that the Republican National Committee has dedicated this document to the forgotten men and women of America. And then, in the preamble, we talk about common sense, and we end with citing those 20 promises that people want to see activity on: energy issues, border issues, crime issues, making certain that we are dealing with rebuilding our military, being strong at home and abroad, protecting our freedoms, dealing with the weaponization of government.”
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“Those are things that we all hear about every day.”
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