The Republican Party on Monday formally nominated United States President Donald Trump for a second term in the White House against Democrat Joe Biden, AP reported. The president secured sufficient votes at a party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vice President Mike Pence also accepted his renomination at the convention, which has been drastically scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The choice in this election has never been clearer and the stakes have never been higher,” Pence said. “We’re going to make American great again. Again.”

The vice president pitched the Trump-Pence ticket as leaders of a party that stood for free market economics, secure borders and the right to life, according to The New York Times. Pence also refuted the Democrats’ charge that the future of American democracy is on the line in the race between Trump and Biden ahead of the November 3 election. Pence told the delegates that “the economy is on the ballot”.

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, accused Biden of embracing a radical left agenda. “The truth is there’s only one person who has empathized with everyday Americans and actually been fighting for them every single day over the past four years, and that’s President Donald J Trump,” she added.

First Lady Melania Trump will speak on Tuesday from the Rose Garden, Pence will appear from Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Wednesday and Trump will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday at the White House. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will make a speech on the president’s behalf while conducting an official trip to Israel.

Last week at the Democratic convention, former President Barack Obama had delivered a scathing rebuke to Trump, accusing him of unleashing America’s “worst impulses” and treating the presidency like “one more reality show”. Obama’s words echoed those of his wife, Michelle Obama, who on August 17 had said that Trump had proven he was incapable of meeting the moment and called him the “wrong president” of the country and someone “clearly in over his head”. Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had urged voters who regret picking Trump four years ago to not make the same mistake in 2020 and to instead support Biden.