Republican convention opens after Trump assassination attempt; Minnesota delegate says 'it gave me chills'

Intensive security and appeals for unity are both expected to be heavy components of the Republican National Convention that begins Monday in Milwaukee, just days after an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump that rattled the nation.

Minnesota sent 39 delegates to the convention, many of whom arrived in a solemn but determined mood after watching Trump with blood on his face and his fist raised as Secret Service agents rushed him off stage after shots were fired Saturday at a Pennsylvania rally.

Kelly Fenton, a former state legislator from Woodbury, said it was miraculous that Trump was only grazed in the ear by a bullet fired toward his head.

“As I sat and watched the footage, it gave me chills. But then to see the strength of the former president, stand up and basically assure Americans ‘I'm okay and I'm never gonna stop fighting for America,’ was also chilling,” she said. “I think people needed that at that time they were in just such shock.”

Fenton said she’s hopeful that it unified the country in one respect. “There is no room for violence. It shouldn't be this way. And that's a consensus across the board regardless of what political side of the aisle you're on.”

Another Minnesota delegate, 33-year-old Kip Christianson, said the weekend’s tragic event will stir emotions in Milwaukee. Trump addresses delegates Thursday to accept the party nomination for a third time.

“There's going to be a lot of hugs and there's going to be a lot of tears and there's going to be a lot of prayers and there's going to be not a dry eye in the joint,” Christianson said of the convention coming so soon after the assassination attempt.

Even before the weekend, Trump had been reveling in a surge of fundraising, a debate that went his way and some court victories — one that could even cast doubt on his recent New York criminal conviction. 

At a recent Republican Party event west of Minneapolis in Waconia, attendance was sparse. But optimism about Trump’s prospects this fall was plentiful.

“Anybody that watched the debate knows what condition Biden is in,” said Connie Putnam, a GOP leader in Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District.

Putnam said she thinks momentum is clearly in Trump’s favor even though a Republican presidential candidate has not carried Minnesota in more than a half century. 

Missy Rother of Tonka Bay agreed.

“Absolutely,” said Rother, who like others at the event, brought up the recent debate that triggered calls for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid. 

“That was a terrible debate for Biden,” Rother said. “I really think that the support is changing as we speak.”

This week’s Republican Party national convention in Milwaukee will offer Trump and his allies days of time to promote his campaign, to package up party messaging and to slam the Democratic ticket.

Last month, MPR News polling showed Republicans are twice as enthusiastic about Trump than Democrats are about Biden — and that was weeks before the debate debacle.  It also concluded Trump and Biden were running neck-and-neck in Minnesota. 

Apart from crowning Trump their nominee, Republican party leaders will use their national convention to rally Americans around GOP messaging: They’ll hear Republicans talk about their plans to bring down inflation, secure the borders and address public safety concerns.

Minnesota Republican party chair David Hann said he hopes the convention will add to Trump’s momentum — the more excitement, the more volunteers to help him get out the vote for Trump in November.

“We are trying to get our local party units focused on contacting Republican voters, people that we’ve identified in the past to various campaign work to make sure Republicans turn out the vote,“ Hann said.

Trump reportedly plans to open at least eight campaign offices in Minnesota to help with that effort. He has catching up to do. Democrats have more than two dozen field offices open for months and made thousands of voter contacts as the party works to reelect Biden.

“There’s no bigger trophy for a Republican running for president than winning Minnesota,” said Ken Martin, Minnesota’s DFL party chair, who called Trump a “trophy collector.”

“But despite him wanting to win Minnesota, they haven’t done anything to actually try to win Minnesota,” Martin said. “They haven’t opened any offices, they don’t have any field organizers on the ground.”

Fenton said she’s looking forward to networking and learning new ways to bolster Republican chances back home.

“I can’t wait to pick the brain of some of the states that we’ve seen maybe flipped over the last few years, like what did you do? What did you do differently? Compare, you know, this is what we’re doing,” Fenton said. 

Fenton was elected a delegate for Nikki Haley, who won nearly 30 percent of the Republican vote in Minnesota’s March primary. But with the former governor of South Carolina out of the race, Kelly said she’ll cast her ballot for Trump.

She is increasingly optimistic about Trump’s prospects.

“After seeing that debate, absolutely. I feel much better about voting for Trump,” Fenton said.

But she said she’s worried that some other Haley supporters are still not backing Trump. She’s hoping the RNC will help unify the GOP. 

Forest Lake Republican AK Kamara did not cast a ballot for Trump in 2016 but began supporting him two years into his first term. 

Kamara, who is also a delegate in Milwaukee, said he hopes the convention will dispel doubts many Americans have about another Trump term.

“I think the more recent Donald Trump has been a lot more reserved, and maybe being president changed him.”

Or, Kamara said, losing the presidency four years ago, left Trump and his team looking for better ways to connect with voters beyond the GOP base. 

“He’s toned down a lot of the stuff,” Kamara said. “And he sometimes will use self-deprecating humor, because I think there’s been a humility that he's seen that's been put on him.”

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