UNDATED (WTAQ) – Two delegates representing Wisconsin’s Eighth Congressional District at this week’s Republican National Convention took different paths to get to Cleveland.
Literally.
“My wife and I left on Saturday morning out of Waukesha and we’re going to ride with a bunch of other delegates on a delegate bus,” says Jerry Murphy of Appleton. “We had considered different options on how to get there, but we kind of settled that would be a good way to go and meet some people on the way and we don’t have the pressures of driving.”
Barb Finger of Oconto also considered driving, but decided against getting behind the wheel. Her main concern was security.
“When I approach Cleveland and I’m outside the security bubble, or corridor, what could happen based on some of the things I had seen in the news,” Finger says. “Since I’m flying in, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
On the topic of security, both Murphy and Finger have thought about how to handle an expected raucous crowd of protesters outside the Quicken Loans Arena.
“My wife’s a little bit nervous about it but my feeling is that if you stay smart about it, you don’t want to be wandering around outside of the convention center at odd hours and leaving yourself vulnerable,” says Murphy. “You keep an eye on things and stay observant of your surroundings, then no I’m not worried about it.”
“I’m not going to be walking around downtown on my own,” Finger says. “I had a recommendation for a deli that it turns out is less than a mile from the hotel we’ll be staying at, but I think I’ll be taking a taxi instead of walking there. People have also told me travel in groups, don’t be walking around on your own, but that’s about all I’m doing.”
EXPERIENCING THE POLITICAL PROCESS
Murphy is making his first trip to a national convention as a delegate, an honor he anticipated to get when he first asked about going back in January. Still, he’s excited to be selected.
“I guess I’m a little bit too new to the process on the delegate stage here, I don’t know what I’m all going to run into,” Murphy says, adding he just wants to take it all in. “I figure I have very good judgement and just apply that to anything that comes up.”
Finger previously attended the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa.
“I kind of overbooked myself for events in 2012. Come to our party, fill this out, et cetera,” recalls Finger. “Half the stuff I wasn’t able to go to, I just didn’t have the time.”
Both delegates are not buying into the so-called “Never Trump” group being able to disrupt the process and turning the convention on its ear.
“I’m new at this, I don’t know what might be planned by some people,” Murphy says, admitting he didn’t support Trump during the primary. “I’m certainly not looking to participate in that.”
“The anti-Trump crowd is making a lot of noise on social media and in the news,” says Finger. “I don’t think that effort will be successful, but it should be interesting to see what happens.”
PARTY UNITY
With word last week that Indiana Governor Mike Pence had been chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate, both Murphy and Finger believe the ticket can bring this seemingly divided party together.
“I certainly think that Donald Trump can win this election,” says Murphy. “First of all, Hillary Clinton is not a strong candidate. For Trump, I think it’s all in front of him in terms of whether he can win this election. His nominating speech on Thursday night will be very crucial, he needs to have a good speech and needs to run a good campaign going forward, but definitely he can win this election.”
“The closer we get to the actual nomination, I think people are going to more and more coalesce behind Donald Trump as our nominee,” Finger says, praising the selection of Pence. “And I do believe he can win in November.”
The Republican National Convention will host about 2,470 delegates and 2,302 alternate delegates from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five territories.
