Republicans leave convention exuberant, positive and united
OPINION — The Republican Convention ended on July 19, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The GOP came out of their week long confab exuberant, positive and unified.
The Republicans nominated former President Donald J. Trump for the third time to lead their party into the Fall elections. Most reliable polling points to Trump being elected on Nov. 5. However, the election is three months away and anything can happen, and very well might given the events of the year.
Trump was unanimously nominated by the GOP delegates less than 48 hours after being shot by an assassin in rural Pennsylvania at a campaign rally. There were an estimated 10,000 people at the event in this important battleground state. The assassination attempt and Trump’s resilience, and defiant and brave response, further enhanced his odds of taking back the White House.
The big question going into the convention was, who would Trump pick as his running mate. That well kept secret was answered on Monday afternoon when he announced Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his choice to be vice president. The young freshman senator was not a surprise as he was speculated to have been on Trump’s VP short list for months. He immediately became a popular selection.
Vance seems to be somewhat of an American superstar. He turns 40 on Aug. 2 and has had a stellar rags-to-riches, self-made Horatio Alger success story raised in poverty as a boy growing up in Ohio. After high school he became a Marine. He served in combat in the Marine Corp. He then went to college at Ohio State, on the G.I. bill. He continued to law school at Yale where he earned his J.D. degree. He began a successful venture capital business. His next endeavor was to write a best-selling book — an allegorical story about his life. The book Hillbilly Elegy was made into a movie, which a lot of folks have seen. I am sure a lot more will now see and also will read the book, now that Vance has been thrust onto the national scene. He and his wife, Usha, have three young children, ages 2, 4 and 7.
Vance is touted as a blue collar, Rust Belt, MAGA Republican. He will be an asset to the ticket in attracting middle class voters in the pivotal swing mid-western states surrounding his home state of Ohio. The election will be decided in the Midwest battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Vance will also help keep his home state of Ohio in the red column.
Our own freshman Sen. Katie Britt is a close conservative ally and friend of Vance. They arrived in the Senate together less than two years ago. Britt and Vance were identified early by the national press as new rising, promising freshmen Republican conservative stalwarts in a stellar freshman class elected in 2020. They have not disappointed anyone. They both are everything that they were cracked up to be for the GOP. Britt was given a primetime spot for an address to the convention on Monday.
Another Alabama lady was featured in the spotlight at the Convention. As the roll call began for the Presidential nomination, it was obvious that a beautiful, clear, distinct, southern accent was calling the roll. When I looked, I saw our own Vickie Drummond of Jasper was presiding. She was elegant, beautiful and exuded class. Vickie and her magnificent husband, Mike, a Jasper dentist, were Republicans before it was cool. They have toiled in the Republican Party vineyards for 60 years. They began with the Southern Goldwater Republican landslide of 1964. Vickie has become a leader in the National Republican Party. She serves as Secretary of the National GOP and is on the Executive Committee of the National Party. She and Mike are Alabama treasures.
Another Alabama treasure, iconic State Sen. Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills, is the longest serving legislator in Alabama history and was a delegate to the GOP Convention for the ninth straight time going back to 1992. He also attended the 1984 Convention as a Republican candidate for Congress.
See you next week.
Steve Flowers’ weekly column appears in more than 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. steve@steveflowers.us.
