Janice Hisl
Contributor
MILWAUKEE — It's official: Former President Donald Trump is the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee.
The announcement came almost simultaneously with President Trump announcing Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate.
The Republican Party clinched the former president's nomination after Florida was added to its official delegate count.
Roll call of state representatives began just before 2 p.m. Central Standard Time on Monday.
In his nomination speech, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufman said the former president was elected by a landslide in a primary election modeled after Iowa's.
“This is a grassroots party,” he said, adding that Trump is a champion for the people and “has kept his promises.”
Kaufman frequently punctuated his speech by pumping both fists in the air.
“It is my honor to nominate Donald J. Trump!”
A chorus of “USA, USA, USA!” ensued.
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael S. McDonald supported the nomination, saying Mr. Trump was fighting a “weaponized war on the law” not just for himself but on behalf of ordinary people.
Corey Lewandowski said he was proud to cast New Hampshire's 22 votes for his “good friend,” the former president. Lewandowski served as Trump's campaign manager in the 2016 presidential election.
The 78-year-old former president faced criminal charges in four cases, one of which he was convicted of and another of which was dismissed just hours before the nomination vote.
While Trump's nomination was a given, this formal action marks a necessary and much-needed step ahead of the general election on November 5th.
Trump's selection carries added emotional weight for party staunch supporters given that he narrowly escaped with a wound to his ear when a gunman opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, two days earlier.
One Trump supporter was killed and two others were injured in the incident, and police killed the gunman but are still investigating how he managed to scale a nearby building.
In response to the riots, both the former president and presumptive Democratic opponent President Joe Biden have called for peace, unity and calm as preparations continue for the 2024 election.
Before the assassination attempt, the nation and the world had been focused on Biden's performance in the June 27 debate with former President Joe Biden. After the debate in Atlanta, the incumbent Biden had fended off calls from a minority of his party to drop out of the race. The 81-year-old president said that despite concerns about his age, he was capable and determined to fulfill his duties and would serve a second term if re-elected.
The two men disagree on many key policy issues, including the economy and immigration, which rank high on voters' concerns along with protecting constitutional rights, and each has accused the other of being a “threat to democracy.”
In a major development on Monday, just before the convention began, a federal judge in Florida dismissed one of the criminal cases against the former president, who is due to be sentenced in September on criminal charges in New York state.
But the former president's legal team is seeking to have the conviction thrown out following a US Supreme Court ruling that said presidents have immunity from having certain information used against them.
Biden's campaign response
The Biden campaign responded to the former president's choice of running mate with a statement claiming that Vance is “on a mission to implement Trump's Project 2025 policies at the expense of American families.”
While incumbent Biden supports abortion and “reproductive rights,” the Biden camp claims that the Trump-Vance duo is pro-life.
The Biden team has also pushed back against Trump and Vance's concerns about the Affordable Care Act.
Additionally, the Biden campaign has positioned Vance as someone who has the support of “billionaires and corporations.”
“They know Biden and Trump will cut their taxes and make prices skyrocket for everyone else,” the Biden campaign said.
According to a statement from the Biden campaign, Vance has questioned the legitimacy of Biden's 2020 election victory and opposes the refusal to “accept the results of the election.”
Roll call of state delegates at the Milwaukee convention began just before 2:00 p.m. Central time and ended by 3:00 p.m.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, announced that the former president had received 2,387 delegate votes, nearly double the total needed.
