GOP convention: Amid shock, Virginia delegates call for resolve

Shock, as one Virginia delegate at the convention said Sunday, because “virtually everyone here has been to at least one Trump rally — they know how locked down (the events) are.”

But the bombshell of the first assassination attempt on a U.S. presidential candidate in decades is not keeping convention delegates from focusing on the reason they came to Wisconsin: to nominate Trump for what will be his third run for the White House, members of the Virginia delegation said on Sunday.

A day after the shooting, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is leading the Virginia delegation, called on Americans to shun hatred and join hands.

“We fix this through courage, faith, and yes, love,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We fix this by repairing our culture. We fix this by defending our beliefs with dignity and fortitude. We fix this by knowing God Almighty blessed this chosen land, and we will defend America against all enemies foreign and domestic.”

“We fix this, together, by being Americans.”

Virginia Republican Party Chair Rich Anderson, who’s on the convention arrangements committee, stressed the need to focus on Republicans’ goal. Early Sunday, Anderson posted on social platform X an earlier photo of Anderson, his wife, Ruth, and Trump smiling and giving thumbs-up gestures.

“This morning, Ruth & I lift up Pres. Trump in prayer, express our thanks for law enforcement & first responders at the scene, & ask for calmness & resolve as we continue our mission of electing Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States,” Anderson said in the post.

Controlling the message

As has been the pattern through the run-up to the Monday start of four days of speech-making, cheering and roll-call votes, the Trump campaign is keeping a careful control of the message — they have asked delegates not to comment immediately on the record to media questions about the mood in and around the convention hall.

Norfolk State University political scientist Olusoji Akomolafe suggested said one reason for caution could be that the possible political impacts are uncertain.

“One of those possibilities is that the MAGA faction of the Republican Party would immediately pin it on the Deep State,” Akomolafe said.

“It is also likely that some members of Congress would echo that viewpoint and seize the opportunity to use the incident to further polarize the nation,” he said.

It will be critical for the FBI and police agencies to release information quickly about the shooter and his motives, to keep conspiracy theories from flowering, he said.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that he is directing the head of the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican convention. In a prime time address from the Oval Office, the Democratic president warned about the shooting tearing Americans further apart. Biden said political passions can run high but “we must never descend into violence.”

Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service’s coordinator for the Wisconsin convention, said on Sunday said that officials “are fully prepared” and that the assassination attempt did not prompt any security changes.

Feelings are running high in the early days after the Pennsylvania shooting, in which Trump was injured, a man in the crowd was killed and two others were critically wounded.

Longtime Virginia GOP activist Chris LaCivita, the co-manager of Trump’s campaign, said on X that “for years and even today, leftist activists, Democrat donors and now even Joe Biden have made disgusting remarks and descriptions of shooting Donald Trump ... it’s high time they be held accountable for it ... the best way is through the ballot box.”

LaCivita pointed to a recent statement in which Biden said: “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

But generally, the message from Republican leaders in Virginia has been calm and focus.

Former Virginia Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen posted on X: “With a healthy, positive spirit — let’s discuss, debate & persuade people based on the real merits of our common-sense ideas & policies for the People rather than (get) distracted into personalities or petty politics.”

He added: “Under the U.S. flag, Pres. Trump evinced admirable, indomitable spirit as he rose up bloodied on the platform. For our country and the world: Responsible governance in our Republic should aspire to be commensurate with our ideal vision of America as ‘the Shining city on a hill,’ “ Allen said.

Republicans plan to keep the convention on track.

“So this convention goes forward. It’s not going to be scaled back,” Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican convention host committee in Milwaukee, and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, told ABC News.

On schedule

Trump, who is scheduled to accept the Republican nomination on Thursday night, has said he looks forward to addressing delegates.

The campaign’s control over messaging was evident as the final list for Virginia’s 48-member delegation had not been finalized when Anderson headed for the first session of the credentials committee on Thursday evening.

At that point there had been no word from Trump’s campaign about which Virginians they wanted standing behind the Virginia standard on the floor of the 18,000-seat Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.

It’s a new way of picking Virginia’s delegation, though it’s pretty much in line with what other states have been doing, Anderson said Thursday, taking a breather on his fourth day in Milwaukee, where he’s been busy with the Republican National Committee summer meeting and preparations for the convention. In the past, district conventions in each of the state’s 11 congressional districts elected delegates; Virginia Democrats selected theirs at the state convention last month.

Youngkin will stand closest to the Virginia standard on the floor, and the governor will be answering roll calls.

“It will be an immense honor to lead the Republican Virginia Delegation to Milwaukee, where we will stand for strength over weakness,” Youngkin said in an email last week.

Youngkin and Hung Cao, the Trump-backed Republican who is taking on Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in November, are among more than 50 Republican officials, office holders and candidates who will have speaking slots during the convention.

The four-day convention has been scheduled to have daily themes that play off of Trump’s slogan. Monday is Make America Wealthy Once Again. Tuesday is Make America Safe Once Again. Wednesday is Make America Strong Once Again. Thursday is Make America Great Once Again.

The VP question

A key question at the convention is who Trump will announce as his running mate.

“We’ll all be watching for the vice presidency,” Anderson said.

While much of the speculation centers on Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Virginia continues to get a lot of attention.

As Virginia’s party chair and a member of the national committee, “I get asked about it frequently,” Anderson said.

That’s because Youngkin’s name is one that keeps coming up, as Trump keeps his choice close to his vest. And like virtually everyone else, Anderson is eager for the suspense to end.

When questions about the vice presidential nomination arise, Youngkin has a standard response to such talk.

“It’s incredibly humbling, and when someone describes me in that way, I sit there and think about it as an out-of-body moment,” Youngkin told reporters Thursday in Petersburg, after someone mentioned that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had recommended Youngkin in a television interview. (Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also touted Youngkin on Friday night in an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”)

“The reality is I am focused on Virginia,” Youngkin said. “And I’ve been in politics for three years and I believe we’ve made a huge, huge step forward in the commonwealth, and therefore I’m just humbled by it,” he added.

Panels and parties

Youngkin is scheduled to host a Virginia delegation party at the Marcus Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night. The venue is a more than 50-year-old linchpin of the city’s Theater District and a dedicated War Memorial facility with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the new Milwaukee Riverwalk and a fountain-anchored garden.

“I’m absolutely thrilled for the opportunity to welcome delegations from all 50 states on Tuesday night,” Youngkin had said in a statement last week. “We’ll celebrate, showcase the best of Virginia, and of course, indulge in some delicious cheese curds!”

It will be a late end to a long day.

“We’ll get started at 10 (p.m.) and wrap up at 2 a.m.” Anderson said last week. “But I don’t think the governor will stay to the end ... he’s an early bird ... he’ll call you at 5 a.m., sometimes, I can tell you.”

On Monday morning, meanwhile, Youngkin is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion on manufacturing sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and Komatsu to kick off the convention week.

The panel will focus on policy issues to promote U.S. manufacture of construction and farm equipment. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., are the other panelists.

Miyares in Milwaukee

Many people in the Virginia delegation are well-known within the party, if not necessarily as elected officials. While Attorney General Jason Miyares is going, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has not been on any preliminary lists of delegates, Anderson said. Both are potential GOP candidates for governor next year.

Earle-Sears, who once worked to rally African American support for Trump, publicly broke with the former president in November 2022. After the GOP failed to make sweeping gains in the midterm congressional elections, Earle-Sears said she could not back Trump if he ran again.

Miyares spoke briefly at Trump’s June 28 rally in Chesapeake and shook hands with the former president. Earle-Sears did not attend the rally.

“It’s an honor for Gov. Youngkin and I to attend the convention as part of the Virginia delegation,” Miyares said in an email last week. “It has become crystal clear, even to Democrats, that Joe Biden cannot serve as president for four more years.”

He added: “We look forward to hearing President Trump’s vision for a stronger, more prosperous, and safer America,” he said.

Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, also was not on preliminary lists of convention delegates. Trump-backed state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, who topped Good in the June 18 GOP primary, is a likely member of the Virginia delegation.

“He’d be welcome, of course,” Anderson said. But with Good’s petition for a recount pending, “I’d probably advise him to focus on that.”

Pep rally and platform

While Trump’s vice presidential pick is not yet public knowledge, there’s no suspense about the platform proposed by the platform committee, which includes Virginian Jeff Ryer, a longtime Williamsburg-area activist and chair of the 1st Congressional District Republican Committee.

It’s shorter than many past party platforms, with 20 single-sentence policy declarations beginning with No. 1 and No. 2: “Seal the border” and “Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

The platform also promises to end inflation, make the U.S. the world’s dominant energy producer, cut taxes and cut federal support for schools that “push critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.”

It does not say anything about abortion, an issue that drew many advocates to Trump.

“The Republican Party of Virginia fully and totally embraces this common-sense vision to secure our borders, supercharge our economy, crush the violent crime epidemic, end the era of Biden decline, and Make America Great Again,” said Ken Nunnenkamp, executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, in a statement.

But debating policy really isn’t the point of a political convention — it hasn’t been for either party for years.

“It’s really a big political rally, that’s why we go,” Ryer said last week before the shooting at the Trump rally on Saturday.

With shock and with resolve, the convention starts with its first session Monday afternoon and leads up to Thursday night.

“That’s the big day,” Anderson said. “That’s when President Trump speaks.”