Chairman Reince Priebus (WI)

Senate Leader

Mitch McConnell (Minority Leader) (KY)John Cornyn (Minority Whip) (TX)

House Leader

John Boehner (Speaker) (OH)Eric Cantor (Majority Leader) (VA)Kevin McCarthy (Majority Whip) (CA)

Chair of Governors Association Chris Christie (NJ)[1]

Founded March 20, 1854; 159 years ago

Preceded byWhig PartyFree Soil Party

Headquarters310 First Street SEWashington, D.C. 20003

The Republican Party, also commonly called the GOP (for "Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery activists in 1854, it dominated politics nationally for most of the period from 1860 to 1932. There have been 18 Republican presidents, the first being Abraham Lincoln, serving from 1861 to 1865, and the most recent being George W. Bush, serving from 2001 to 2009. The most recent Republican presidential nominee was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

The party's platform is generally based upon American conservatism,[7][8][9] in contrast to the Democratic Party, whose members endorse more liberal policies. American conservatism of the Republican Party is not wholly based upon rejection of the political ideology of liberalism; some principles of American conservatism are based on classical liberalism.[10] Rather, the Republican Party's conservatism is largely based upon its support of classical principles against the social liberalism of the Democratic Party that is considered American liberalism in contemporary American political discourse.[10]

In the 113th Congress, elected in 2012, the Republican Party holds a majority of seats in the United States House of Representatives and a minority of seats in the United States Senate. The party holds the majority of governorships as well as the majority of state legislatures.

The term "Grand Old Party" is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the abbreviation "GOP" is a commonly used designation. The term originated in 1875 in the Congressional Record, referring to the party associated with the successful military defense of the Union as "this gallant old party"; the following year in an article in the Cincinnati Commercial, the term was modified to "grand old party". The first use of the abbreviation is dated 1884.

The Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant The now-famous Democratic donkey was first associated with Democrat Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign. His opponents called him a jackass (a donkey), and Jackson decided to use the image of the strong-willed animal on his campaign posters. Later, cartoonist Thomas Nast used the Democratic donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous.

Nast invented another famous symbol—the Republican elephant. In a cartoon that

appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1874, Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin,

scaring away all the animals at the zoo. One of those

animals, the elephant, was labeled “The Republican Vote.” That's all it took for the

elephant to become associated with the Republican Party.

Democrats today say the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans say the

elephant is strong and dignified.