Tuesday is day two of the Republican National Convention, and it comes after an opening day filled with action and drama from Milwaukee.
Minnesota's top Republican party chair David Han pledging the state's 39 delegates in support of former President Donald Trump who received enough to officially become the GOP candidate. Minnesota delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee were all smiles last night as they got a chance to see their nominee in person for the first time.
"High energy, people were confident, laughing, smiling," said Minnesota Delegate AK Kamara. "I think that honestly, like the live music performances were fantastic, people were up and dancing and it felt like just like a party. We are, we feel so unified going forward."
During an emotional and long first day of the national convention, thoughts of the attempted assassination still on the minds of many. We talked to Minnesota delegate, Chuck Bradford of Manville about this first day it was electric.
"National Conventions are always high energy and this one is even more so," Bradford says. "And I think the incident on Saturday really got us to appreciate how much we had in our candidate, how close we came to losing him and how important he is to the party."
Trump announced he has selection for Vice President, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Bradford says he thought that was a good pick.
Minnesota GOP chair David Hann with praise for the vice presidential choice.
"He was a guy, JD Vance, when he first burst on the scene I think back in 2016, he was not a supporter of Donald Trump," Hann explained. "So he got won over by that and has become a big supporter of him. And I think it'll be a good choice. I think he'll be very helpful obviously in Ohio where he is a senator, which is a battleground state. And I think with, again, the younger demographic."
The 39-year-old Vance rose to national fame with the 2016 publication of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” He was elected to the Senate in 2022 and has become one of the staunchest champions of the former president’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, particularly on trade, foreign policy and immigration.
But he is largely untested in national politics and is joining the Trump ticket at an extraordinary moment in American history. The attempted assassination of Trump has shaken the campaign, bringing new attention to the nation’s coarse political rhetoric and reinforcing the importance of those who are one heartbeat away from the presidency.
Trump arrived at the convention hall just two days after surviving that assassination attempt. He walked in with a bandage over his injured right ear as the singer Lee Greewood performed “God Bless the USA,” a regular feature of the former president’s rallies. Trump waved to the crowd and pumped his fist in the air, a regular gesture that has taken on new meaning after he made a similar motion from the stage as Secret Service agents whisked him to safety on Saturday.
Minnesota GOP organizer Barbara Sutter was there to see everything unfold.
"What we kept saying was watching the gratitude in his face because people were just, it was breathtaking," Sutter said. "When he walked in, I don't mean to be dramatic, but it was, you could tell people cared. You could see that he was overwhelmed by that."
Sutter says she and other members of the Minnesota delegation had to scramble to get back inside the arena for Trump's appearance, and they just happened to find upper level seats near the former president's family.
Day two of the Republican National Convention is Tuesday and WCCO's Susie Jones will be there for coverage all day on WCCO and the Audacy App.
Here’s what to watch for on the second day of the RNC:
Nikki Haley will speak on Tuesday
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor was the last major rival against Trump in this year's primary contest. She waited two months after dropping out in March to say she would vote for him. Then last week, she announced she would instruct her convention delegates to vote for Trump but wasn't planning to attend the convention.
It wasn't until Sunday — hours after the shooting — that her office reversed itself and said she would speak.
It's likely that she will call on her party to show cohesion in the face of this fall’s general election battle against President Joe Biden.
Immigration will be in the spotlightMany of the speeches Monday focused on economic policies and claims that Biden had mishandled the economy.
On Tuesday, the overview shifts to immigration and crime, according to Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, with the theme of “Make America Safe Once Again.”
Be on the lookout for speakers to argue that they have been damaged by Biden-era immigration policies. Trump and Republicans believe the border debate is among their strongest issues.
As part of a broader attempt to blame crime on border policies, expect speeches from family members of slain people in cases where immigrants in the U.S. illegally face criminal charges. Trump has repeatedly brought up the issue at rallies this year.
Last week, the Trump campaign and the RNC announced that the brother of Rachel Morin — a Maryland woman whom prosecutors say was killed and raped by a fugitive from El Salvador — would be one of the speakers at the convention. Officials say the suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country.
He was arrested last month in Oklahoma and charged with first-degree murder and rape in Morin’s death.
The RNC hasn't released the day's full scheduleConvention organizers are not expected to announce who will speak on the event's second day until later Tuesday morning.
Biden goes back on the trailThe Democratic president gets back on the campaign trail Tuesday with events in Nevada, as he continues to try to reassure members of his party about his candidacy after his disastrous debate last month. He had canceled a planned Monday trip to Texas and his reelection campaign temporarily suspended its television ads after Saturday’s shooting.
He will address the NAACP convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday, conduct an interview with the BET network and participate in an economic summit with Rep. Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
As the RNC got underway, Biden had his own slice of the prime-time spotlight Monday. In an interview with Lester Holt on NBC, Biden called it a “mistake” to say he wanted to put a “bull’s-eye” on Trump, but argued that the rhetoric from his opponent was more incendiary, while warning that Trump remained a threat to democratic institutions.
Those remarks from Biden came during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat had been scrambling to shore up his imperiled candidacy with key party constituencies. During that conversation, Biden declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye,” saying Trump has gotten far too little scrutiny on his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.