Former President Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the convention in Milwaukee –seizing another lifetime achievement just two days after he dodged a would-be assassin’s bullet. It happened after his adopted home state ofFlorida gave him his 125 votes. It set off cheers inside the Fiserv arena, video fireworks, and house band playing ‘Celebration.’.....See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Iowa state party chair Jeff Kaufmann has officially nominatedDonald Trump as the Republican nominee.
The procedural move brought a big round of cheers inside the arena. It came minutes before Trump announced online thatOhio Sen.J.D. Vance is his selection as vice presidential running mate, the culmination of a long ‘Apprentice’ style process that kept people guessing who he would choose.
Trump’s nomination is the culmination of a campaign that ran more than a year, after his November 2022 launch, shortly after the Republicans’ underwhelming performance in themidterm elections .
That preceded a period where Trump would face a series of setbacks, including theFBI search of his home and multiple criminal indictments, only to score a series of political wins as he dispensesed with the Republican field to march through the primaries.
House SpeakerMike Johnson , a Trump ally, wielded a huge gavel during the key part of the process.
It marked another career high for Trump, just two days after he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt. That event saw him hustled off stage at his Pennsylvania rally, only after firing up his supporters with a series of fist pumps.
Then, Trump announced he would fly to Milwaukee Sunday.
The convention went through the roll call of votes, where each state announces its votes for president, with each state designating a speaker to address the convention.
In the case of Utah and its 40 delegate votes, it was Sen. Mike Lee, who praised his state’s ‘big families, big hearts and big ideas.’
Then, Lee told the convention crowd that his ‘friend and colleague’ Vance was Trump’s selection.
Speaker Johnson noted that the order is determined by the convention, which is why it began with Iowa, which gave Trump a key win that kicked off his effort to wipe away political opposition.
It was Trump’s son Eric Trump who read out the results of Florida’s 125 votes in a state governed by former rival Ron DeSantis.
He was joined by wife, RNC cochair Lara Trump, who wore royal blue dress for the first day of the convention. In front of him were Donald Trump, Jr. and fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is set to address the gathering.