JD Vance assures conservative Christians they 'have a seat at the table' in Republican Party
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Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, assured a group of conservative Christians the morning after accepting the party's nomination that they are still important to the Republican Party despite concerns with the party platform.
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At a breakfast Thursday at the Republican National Convention hosted by the conservative Christian voter mobilization organization Faith & Freedom Coalition, Vance addressed the concerns that many social conservatives have shared about how Trump's new platform softens the party's stance on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.
"There has been a lot of rumbling in the past few weeks that the Republican Party of now, the Republican Party of the future, is not going to be a place that's not welcoming to social conservatives," Vance said.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to say that is not true. Social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will, so long as I have any influence in this party and President Trump, I know, agrees."
Vance said Trump sees politics as "the art of the possible," namely, "what can we accomplish in the here and now" and "how do we advance the ball one yard before we advance it 10 yards before we advance it to a touchdown?"
"And so, I'd ask my social conservative friends, as you see the administration unfold, as you see the campaign unfold, remember that this is a guy who delivered for social conservatives more than any president in my 39 years of life," Vance continued.
"I think he deserves a little bit of grace and he deserves a little bit of trust, and I hope that we will all provide that to him. I certainly know that, as his running mate, I will."
Last week, the Republican National Committee's Platform Committee approved a revised Republican Platform that, among other things, softened the party stance against abortion and removed any overt opposition to same-sex marriage.
This included removing support for a pro-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution and not denouncing the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage nationwide.
The changes drew the ire of many conservative Christians in the Republican Party, who viewed the revisions as betraying the views of a key voting bloc within the GOP. Among them is the president of the influential Washington-based Christian conservative activist group Family Research Council Tony Perkins, a member of the platform committee.
Several other conservative groups joined FRC in launching the Platform Integrity Project in a bid to preserve issues of "life and family values" in the party platform. Perkins also wrote a letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley opposing reports that "pro-life principles" would be omitted from the platform.
Perkins also opposed what has been termed "the RNC Gag Rule," which he said restricted access to "the deliberations of various committees and subcommittees only to the credentialed delegates of those committees." This meant that neither the press nor guests would be allowed to observe the platform committee or subcommittee decisions.
Perkins and Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed were among activists who sent a letter last month asking for language calling for a "fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed" for unborn babies to remain in the platform, Reuters reported.
While Perkins continues to criticize the party platform, Reed has reportedly said the platform is "unapologetically pro-life."
"The Republican Party platform makes clear the unborn child has a right to life that is protected by the Constitution under the due process clause of the 14th amendment," Reed told Politico. "That language has been in the GOP platform for 40 years and reflects the view of Ronald Reagan."
The National Right to Life, a prominent pro-life advocacy group, released a statement earlier this month on the platform, noting that the platform was still more opposed to abortion than the Democrat Party platform.
"We thank the platform committee for its hard work ensuring that the party's goal of protecting women and their preborn children is clearly stated," said NRTL President Carol Tobias said in a statement.
"In contrast to what the Democratic Party offers to women and their preborn children, the Republican Party Platform offers life and hope. The Democratic Party is the party of unlimited abortion — even abortions late in pregnancy."
