6 questions as Republicans prepare for national convention

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Convention is scheduled to start Monday in Milwaukee following what law enforcement said was as an apparent assassination attempt on GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The convention comes as the former president and Republicans look to seize on the political troubles facing President Joe Biden, who has resisted calls by some congressional Democrats to bow out of the race over concerns about his age.

Trump, who will be nominated by the party for the third time, was rushed off the stage by Secret Service at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday after apparent gunshots rang out. Trump was seen with blood on his right ear. His campaign released a statement saying he was “fine,” and the Secret Service said in a statement that “the former President is safe.”

The four-day quadrennial event at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee also is expected to serve as the venue for Trump to introduce his yet-to-be-named running mate.

In prime-time televised speeches and video montages, Republican speakers will lay out the party’s vision for a potential second Trump term.

The convention marks a return to the traditional fanfare of the event, where more than 2,000 delegates will crowd together with signs and streamers, unlike the scaled-back pandemic-era 2020 conventions held by both parties.

Republicans selected the battleground state of Wisconsin for this year’s convention, underscoring the must-win status of the state that Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020.

Heading into the convention, “Trump and the Republicans are still faced with the problem they’ve had since at least the 2020 election. And that is how to persuade moderate suburban swing voters to support them,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.

“Moderate suburbanites, especially in the handful of true swing states, will determine this election no matter who is at the top of the ticket,” Levy, who has studied suburban politics for decades, told Newsday. “The upcoming national convention is an important opportunity for the Republicans to build bridges from their passionate and secure conservative base to more moderate voters who rejected Trump in 2020 and Republican congressional candidates in 2022.”

Here are six things to watch this week at the Republican National Convention.

What will security at the RNC now look like? 

While security was already expected to be tight at the RNC, it will likely increase following Saturday's incident in Pennsylvania.

“Security needs to be the priority,” Anthony D'Esposito (R-Island Park), of the 4th Congressional District, told Newsday. “I think [House] members and delegates need to be vigilant, and they need to be smart. There needs to be a plan. I just pray that this calms down and we can just get to the election and move forward.”

D'Esposito spoke to Newsday a day after he said his office received a bomb threat, forcing staffers to evacuate for more than an hour while an investigation was launched.

The Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Saturday about security following the incident at the rally. 

Who will be the vice presidential pick?

Trump’s vice presidential pick is slated to speak on Wednesday night, but the former president had signaled — prior to Saturday — that he could announce the nominee as soon as Monday.

Trump’s shortlist reportedly includes freshman Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), third-term Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Republican campaign strategist Michael Dawidziak, of Bayport, who worked on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 GOP conventions as part of George H.W Bush’s team, said Trump likely will wait as long as possible to name his nominee to build more anticipation.

“That’s where all the excitement is, that’s what everyone is waiting to hear,” Dawidziak said in a phone interview.

What role will New York’s delegation play?

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) is slated to return as a convention speaker, after delivering a prime-time speech during the 2020 convention.

Zeldin's 2020 speech was delivered from the Westhampton Beach Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, where he praised the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year he'll deliver a speech from the convention stage.

Zeldin's return to the convention comes after his 2022 run for governor, where he lost to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“I'm confident that there will be messages covering all sorts of issues that are the top priority for” voters, Zeldin told Newsday in a phone interview before the Trump campaign and convention organizers announced on Saturday he would serve as a speaker. The RNC has not yet indicated which night he will speak.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville), the top ranking New York House Republican who serves as House Republican Conference chair, also is scheduled to speak.

Offstage, there is focus on New York’s House Republicans, particularly those who in 2022 won districts won by Biden in 2020, including D’Esposito's in Nassau County, and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) who represents the 1st Congressional District spanning most of Suffolk County.

D’Esposito is facing a challenge from Democrat Laura Gillen, the former Hempstead Town Supervisor, and LaLota is facing a challenge from Democrat John Avlon, a former CNN political analyst — two races that political spectators are watching closely as Republicans and Democrats wrestle over control of the House.

Asked about his expectations heading into the convention, D’Esposito said he believed the convention would ultimately help down-ballot Republicans by showing “a unified front at a time when the Democrats are legitimately all over the place, where they can’t even decide who they want to run for president.”

What tone will Trump take against Biden?

Trump had kept a relatively low profile since his June 27 debate with Biden. Aside from a campaign rally in Florida on July 9, where he encouraged Biden to compete with him on the golf course, he had not had a steady stream of post-debate campaign events — until Saturday.

Former Rep. Pete King (R-Seaford), a longtime convention attendee who will not be at this year’s convention, said as Trump heads to Milwaukee he would advise Trump to take on the “calm” and “statesmanlike” demeanor he held during the debate.

“I wouldn't be emphasizing personal attacks on Joe Biden,” King said. “Whatever people feel about Joe Biden, they know it already. Trump needs to focus on spelling out his own plans as far as immigration and how he’s going to help small businesses. That’s what voters will want to hear.”

Will protests come into play?

The “Never Trump” movement of delegates that sought to block Trump’s nomination at the 2016 convention was quashed that year in Cleveland, and since taking office in 2017 Trump largely has reshaped the Republican National Committee to be surrounded by loyalists, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, serving as party co-chair.

While it’s unlikely Trump will face any real efforts to thwart his nomination, outside of the convention arena groups opposed to Trump have planned a series of events.

The anti-Trump conservative group Principles First will be holding a rally on Wednesday with speakers including former Republican Party chairman Michael Steele and Republican lawyer George Conway, one of the founders of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee.

The Democratic National Committee already has started an ad blitz in Milwaukee, including billboards, and bus wraps, aimed at countering GOP messaging.

“If Trump thought Milwaukee was ‘horrible’ before, he won’t be happy when he’s met by a counter-convention from Democrats on the ground,” DNC spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin said in a statement, referencing the former president's remark last month about the Wisconsin city.

What does the GOP platform look like?

The Republican National Committee released the party’s 20-point platform in all-caps lettering on July 8 and is expected to adopt the platform on Monday.

The 16-page plan calls for a mass deportation effort of immigrants living in the United States without legal status; proposes building a “great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country”; and touching on the unrest on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war, promises to “make our college campuses safe and patriotic again.”

The document only mentions abortion once, stating: “We will oppose Late Term Abortion,” while asserting “states are, therefore, free to pass” abortion-related laws, in keeping with the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning federal abortion protections.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.