MILWAUKEE — With the nation reeling from the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Massachusetts and New Hampshire delegates to the Republican National Convention said they view the event as an opportunity to unify the party in support of the former president, who was officially named the GOP nominee Monday.
Military armored vehicles scanned the streets as helicopters circled above and snipers were at the ready on rooftops outside the convention in downtown Milwaukee.
The delegates included New Hampshire state Reps. Kimberly Abare of Pelham and Lilli Walsh of Hampstead.
“It’s incredibly heightened security, but it’s a day late,” said Abare, who is an alternate delegate joined at the convention by her husband, Dave Abare.
Julie Hall, a MassGOP convention delegate from Attleboro, said like most Americans she was “shocked” by the attempt on Trump’s life by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks at the rally Saturday in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper. A crowd member also died, and two others were critically injured.
“This could have gone another way, and thankfully, it didn’t,” Hall said.
The retired Air Force colonel and former Republican congressional candidate said despite lingering anxiety over the shooting, she believes the party’s faithful are even more united and motivated behind Trump now, a dynamic she said will be on display during the entire four-day event.
“People want to move forward, they want to get past it,” Hall said. “This is an exciting event. We just want to have a good time and support our candidate.”
Further adding to safety concerns is that people just outside the Secret Service perimeter are allowed to carry guns openly or concealed as permitted by Wisconsin state law. State statutes outlaw only machine guns, short-barreled shotguns and silencers.
Dan DiMatteo, another Massachusetts delegate, said he has been looking forward to his first GOP presidential convention and casting a ballot for Trump. But, he said, the angst and uncertainty over the shooting looms large.
“I think everyone is still trying to process what happened,” he said. “It was just unbelievable.”
DiMatteo said he hopes the incident will tone down the rhetoric from Democrats and Republicans, and help bring the nation closer together.
“Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring people together,” he said. “And at the end of the day, it’s not about red or blue – it’s about red, white and blue.”
The MassGOP has about a dozen delegates at the convention, including Chairwoman Amy Carnevale of Marblehead and former Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson, Trump’s Massachusetts campaign coordinator.
Besides voting to formally nominate Trump, GOP delegates will update the party’s platform for the first time since 2016, outlining its policies on issues that include economic growth, immigration and abortion.
On Monday, the vice presidential candidate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, was introduced at the convention. Trump will accept the party’s nomination Thursday.
Abare said she is seeing patriotism and unity. Those on her departing flight from Boston began singing “God Bless America” as soon as the wheels were up Sunday.
Walsh said, “We’re all in high spirits. Trump is a tough guy. He’s unbelievably tough and we are resolute in supporting him and his agenda.”