Sauk Valley GOP leaders: Republicans remain energetic, hopeful after RNC’s conclusion

DIXON — As the 2024 Republican National Convention came to a close last Thursday, attendees remained energetic and hopeful, one local delegate said.

“The overall tone was enthusiastic optimism that we’re going to come together as a country,” Carroll County Republican Party Chairwoman Lana Soldat said. “President [Donald] Trump is working hard to unite our country – Republicans, Democrats and independents.”

Soldat attended the RNC, which took place July 15-18 in Milwaukee, as an Illinois delegate. There were no delegates from the Lee, Ogle or Whiteside counties’ GOPs at the event.

Former President Donald Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination at the RNC on July 18, less than a week after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The July 13 assassination attempt left Corey Comperatore, a retired fire chief, dead and at least two others injured. Secret Service fatally shot the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Trump appeared to be humbled and sobered by the attack, which he recounted moment by moment during his acceptance speech, Soldat said.

“He told us he’d tell this story once and he didn’t want to tell it again because it was too painful, which was difficult to hear from him,” she said.

Whiteside County GOP Chairman Kurt Glazier, who watched much of the RNC on television, said he believes the assassination attempt phased Trump more than most people realize.

“I think, ever since last Saturday [July 13] – and this is a personal opinion – he seemed much more humble and down to earth,” Glazier said of Trump. “He didn’t seem like the larger-than-life person that he’s been before. He just seemed more thankful to be able to still be there, to be alive Saturday night and since then.”

Trump’s acceptance speech lasted almost 93 minutes.

“There on the convention floor, there were moments when everyone was absolutely silent and tense and on our tiptoes waiting to hear what he [Trump] had to say next,” Soldat said.

The speech was, at times, solemn, but remained hopeful, she said.

“It’s my desire that, after this convention’s over, that people go home with more love, compassion and forgiveness for each other in their hearts,” Soldat said. “I felt, in my heart, that’s what he [Trump] was saying. We all mess up. We’re not perfect, but we need to forgive each other and work together.”

Unity was a common theme touched on by all the RNC speakers, Soldat said.

Among the speakers was first-term U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio. Trump announced Vance as his running mate during the RNC.

Vance was a vocal critic of Trump in 2016, but has said he came to support him during his administration.

The selection was “a little surprising, but then not surprising,” Soldat said.

“There were so many people he could have picked,” she said. “President Trump seems to think JD can do it, and everyone’s behind him.”

Glazier said he doesn’t know a lot about Vance, but believes he has a good resume based on research he did after Vance was named.

“I like the fact that he’s a bit younger than the normal pick for a running mate,” Glazier said. “I think that he’d be a good person to connect to millennials.”

Vance, 39, is a graduate of Ohio State University and Yale Law School, as well as a Marine Corp veteran. He served in Iraq as a corporal with the Public Affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.

“I believe the Republican Party was fractured before the convention, and I believe this convention seems to have brought about a sense of unity,” Glazier said. “I feel things are looking pretty positive for the Republican Party in local, state and the federal races. I really do.”