CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — The 2020 Republican National Convention’s roll call may not have showcased scenic backdrops from across the country like Democrats did last week, but it had its own glimmers of flair and color.
GOP representatives from the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories gathered in North Carolina’s Charlotte Convention Center Monday to cast their votes unanimously renominating President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for this cycle’s general election.
The 2020 Republican convention’s program was dramatically changed at the eleventh hour due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yet the tradition of delegates talking up their states was a welcome sense of normalcy during the quadrennial event’s in-person portion in Charlotte.
Speaking straight to a camera in front of a Republican banner, a Connecticut delegate announced the Nutmeg State’s “28 spicy votes” for Trump and “American greatness.” Don Kaltschmidt, chairman of Montana’s state GOP party, touted how in his state, “We fish, we hunt, we boat, and we have at least five guns in every home.”
Democrats last week went through their roll-call vote via a combination of live and recorded segments.
The Democratic American Samoa delegation potentially flouted military guidelines by including two uniformed soldiers in its shot. But the Rhode Island representatives stole the show, becoming a social media sensation for rebranding their home the “Comeback Calamari State” and featuring a masked chef with a plate of the squid appetizer in the background.
Not to be outdone, the Republican Rhode Island delegate said Monday: “And yes, we eat a lot of calamari, Rhode Island style.”
A convention’s roll call typically shines a light on rank-and-file party members. The 2020 GOP edition, though, elevated several already high-profile Trump allies.
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who’s been criticized for hawking possible coronavirus treatments, represented the Minnesota delegation. David Bossie, Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager for the last few months of his bid, spoke as Maryland Republican chair. Bossie almost claimed his state was home “to two of our greatest segregationists” before correcting himself to say “abolitionists.”
Chair of Maryland’s delegation to the Republican National Convention David Bossie almost said that the state was home ‘to two of our greatest segregationists’ before correcting himself https://t.co/7Cbi9ThRkV pic.twitter.com/0OZ9wXhsrv
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 24, 2020
Corey Lewandowski, who managed Trump’s 2016 election efforts for most of the primary, also addressed the convention. He took a moment, however, to flaunt his own accomplishments as well.
“New Hampshire is known for our maple syrup, comedian Adam Sandler, poet Robert Frost, and New York Times bestselling author Corey Lewandowski,” he said.
Georgia delegate Ginger Howard praised the organizing committee for hosting at least part of the proceedings in Charlotte, complementing the prime-time TV schedule for the rest of the week.
“It was extremely exciting and so wonderful to be able to nominate in person President Trump and Vice President Pence,” she told the Washington Examiner.
For Mississippi Party Chairman Lucien Smith, buzz surrounding Trump and Pence’s reelection in the fall “was palpable” in the room.
“The Democratic National Convention had all the energy of a flat, rehearsed cardboard performance because Americans lack enthusiasm for policies that will crush them with taxes, raise their power bills, and proliferate hyperleft social norms like kneeling for the pledge, defunding police, killing unborn children, and kowtowing to extremist foreign enemies,” he said.
