Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee

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Things change fast in presidential politics. A week ago, all anyone was talking about was whether President Biden would be the Democratic nominee. That’s on the back burner now.

An assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump changed everyone’s focus to safety and security, and on Monday, that got pushed to the back seat.

WINK News anchors Claire Galt and Chris Cifatte were at the event.

Trump announced his running mate as Ohio Senator JD Vance.

Our first real clue that JD Vance was Donald Trump’s choice as running mate came Monday morning when he left his Cincinnati home in this motorcade.

But we didn’t have to be detectives for very long.

The former president ended the speculation on Truth Social Monday afternoon, saying Vance, as his pick for vice president, “Will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and far beyond.”

When Vance walked into the convention hall, his wife Usha beaming by his side, every delegate cemented his place on the GOP ticket.

Just 39 years old, Vance rejected Trump before he accepted him.

During the 2016 campaign, Vance described himself as “a Never Trump guy” who accused Trump of “leading the white working class to a very dark place.”

When Vance ran for the senate seat in Ohio in 2022, he recast himself as a Trump supporter.

That included an apology to the former president. Trump responded by endorsing Vance.

He won and quickly became a sought-after surrogate who makes the rounds on television talking up Trump.

WINK News also spoke to Congressman Byron Donalds.

“I want to be clear: it’s not just all on Donald Trump, and for that matter, it’s not just all on Joe Biden. It’s on all elected officials, it’s on news media, it’s on social media hosts, podcast hosts, it’s all of us, how we treat each other collectively as citizens,” said Donalds. “We’ve been through a lot in the history of our county. The last 8 to 10 years have been really tough politically. We have families that don’t talk to each other because of politics. We have friends that basically cut each other off because of politics. The time’s come. We can disagree, but we’re still Americans.”

Stay tuned to WINKNews.com, WINK News App, streaming, and on-air for any new developments on this story.

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