Most of W.Pa. delegation will watch GOP convention from home

When he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, Scott Avolio was looking forward to being part of the conversation about the party platform going forward to President Trump’s reelection campaign.

Now, like hundreds of other delegates, Avolio, a Greensburg lawyer and first-time convention delegate, has found himself with little to do as the scaled-down convention convenes Monday in Charlotte without him.

“I passed on my proxy to Christine Toretti and others in leadership. So, I’ll be participating just like I would in any other convention, watching the speakers and looking for direction as to what we can do to ensure our candidate wins,” Avolio said.

The convention will stream live all week on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch and Amazon Prime, with prime-time evening coverage on networks.

Pennsylvania was among three swing states that gave Trump a boost to the White House in 2016 when he won the state by a razor-slim 44,000 vote margin, out of more than 6 million votes cast. Republicans hope to grow that margin even as Democrat Joe Biden attempts to build on his Pennsylvania roots.

Toretti, of Indiana, Pa., is Pennsylvania’s National Republican Committeewoman. That post won her one of 336 coveted positions on the ground in Charlotte at the vastly scaled back national convention that was originally scheduled to include some 2,550 delegates.

Like last week’s tightly scripted virtual Democratic Convention, the GOP Convention that will feature “the Great American Story” as its theme, will highlight dozens of speakers weighing in virtually over the next four days.

The speakers are a lead in to Thursday night’s convention culmination when President Trump is scheduled to accept the nomination in a speech for the White House Rose Garden.

“It will be a very different, but very upbeat convention, “Toretti said Sunday in an interview from Charlotte where she was attending pre-convention meetings. “I think the country is tired from being beaten down. Every time you turn on the news there is something negative. It is to the point that people are turning off their television. With the virus, you are looking for positive messages. You’re looking to reconnect with people who are so excited just to be out of the house.”

Trump himself is scheduled to speak every night in the 10 p.m. hour.

Family members including his wife, Melania; sons Donald Jr. and Eric; daughter-in-law Lara; and daughters Ivanka and Tiffany are scheduled to address the gathering over the next four days. Upcoming GOP figures, including Nikki Haley, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Neom and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the Republicans’ only African American member of the Senate, also are among those scheduled to speak.

And like the Democrats last week, Republicans will shine a light on Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District Monday when they feature Sean Parnell. Parnell, a Murrysville native and decorated former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan is challenging Democratic incumbent Conor Lamb of Mt. Lebanon.

Lamb, a former federal prosecutor and Marine veteran was among a group of party newcomers featured in the Democratic Convention keynote last week.

Toretti said she’s excited that the virtual GOP Convention will focus on testimonials from GOP newcomers and everyday people.

“A lot of the speakers are going to be people who have been affected by President Trump’s policies over the three and a half years he’s been president. I’m hoping it will resonate with people around the country,” she said.

In Westmoreland County, a former Democratic stronghold where Trump scaled a two to one margin over Hillary Clinton four years ago, Trump yard signs were flying out of the back of Richard Larrabee’s Volkswagen at a Walmart parking lot in Mt. Pleasant where the 73 year-old Westmoreland County Republican Committeeman, a Vietnam veteran sporting a long braid, was distributing them to shoppers.

“People say they can’t get them. And it’s safer for me to be handing them out here than it is for them to go to party headquarters to get them. I’ve handed out about 450 of them so far,” Larrabee said, speaking through a mask.

Trump supporters claiming yard signs said they want to hear more about the president’s plans to deal with the pandemic after weeks of Democratic criticism that reached a fever pitch in last week’s Democratic convention.

“It makes me mad that the Democrats are using the virus as a political thing,” Larry Ryan said.

Ryan, 73, of Mt. Pleasant was among those who lined up for a yard sign. He said he was a Trump supporter in 2016 and will support him again.

“I was a Democrat my whole working life. I used to think they were for the working man. I changed parties after Obama got in,” the retired factory worker said.

Bill Schomer, 63, of Mt. Pleasant, a military veteran and retired social worker who went to college on his GI benefits and worked with special needs adults, said he admires Trump for stepping forward to lead.

“He’s not a politician and he doesn’t have to do what he’s doing. But I’d like to hear some plans. I didn’t hear any plans from the Democrats. The lure of socialism, that health care and college should be free, is what they’re selling and I know there is no such thing as a free ride,” Schomer said.

Back in Greensburg, Avolio said he knows the president has to address the pandemic. But he’s anxious to hear how he plans to continue with the party’s platforms on issues such as appointing federal judges.

“I want to hear about the things he’s planning for the next four years outside of the pandemic. A lot of it has to be about how we recover,” Avolio said.

Toretti said a big part of the message will be an optimistic one about the future. But she conceded the president known for punching back at his opponents will be hard pressed to stay on that message.

“He is who he is. I hear criticism from people about his style or his Tweets or the way he says something.

“But when I am with him, and I have traveled with him, he has always treated me with dignity and respect, not what has been painted. What I’ve tried to do is take all that bravado away and look about what he has been doing and what his policies have moved our country forward,” she said.

If the convention can move the public focus to that, it will have served its purpose she said.