MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention is coming to Wisconsin’s largest city this week, and its colorful history Including assassination attempts This was done against presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt in 1912.
At the time, the former president had left the Republican Party and was running a hopeless reelection campaign as a third party.
Assassination attempt Occurred 112 years ago Before current Republican presidential candidate and former commander in chief Donald Trump was shot and nearly killed at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Trump, 78, traveled to Milwaukee on Sunday to attend the inauguration as his party’s presidential nominee.
Just before President Roosevelt was to deliver a campaign speech, he was shot by a would-be assassin from New York City outside the Gilpatrick Hotel, now the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee.
The 50 pages of speech he had in his pocket saved his life and prevented him from being shot to death.
He continued speaking for 84 minutes without receiving treatment for his wounds.
Following his near assassination, President Trump announced he would not change or postpone his plans to travel to the Badger State to attend the party convention.
safety It was already increasing Police presence was heightened around the convention site in the hours after the Pennsylvania shooting, but a former FBI agent who served with the Milwaukee police for 25 years told The Post on Sunday that most of the plans remain intact.
“They will definitely be on high alert. They will widen their alert area, but they shouldn’t change their plans,” the source said.
on October 14, 1912, shortly before a gunman shot and wounded him. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel File
“They’re going to encourage [Trump] “As is typical procedure for protecting senior government officials, I have ordered that his public appearances be restricted. Whether the person in question follows that advice is another matter.”
The battleground state’s coveted 10 electoral votes undoubtedly contributed to the state’s appeal at this year’s Republican National Convention.
“I love Milwaukee!” Trump told a cheering crowd in Racine, Wisconsin, last month. “I chose Milwaukee.”
But he has already gotten into trouble for allegedly calling the city a “bad city” behind closed doors with Republican leaders, a claim he denied.
Trump’s relationship with Wisconsin and Milwaukee is complicated.
The state had gone to Democrats in the past seven presidential elections, but in 2016, Trump’s victory saw its support slide by less than one percentage point.
“Four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than one percentage point,” Charles Franklin, director of polling at Marquette Law School in Wisconsin, told The Washington Post.
“Trump won by 0.8 percentage points in 2016 and Biden won by 0.6 percentage points in 2020, but by fewer than 25,000 votes in both cases.”
“Since November, Marquette Law School polls have shown one Trump lead, one Biden lead and two ties, which is certainly consistent with past very close elections,” Franklin said.
Former Wisconsin Rep., House Speaker and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said last year that he would not attend the Republican National Convention in his home state if Trump became the nominee.
More recently, he said he thinks there’s a “high probability” that Trump would contest the election again if he loses, as he did in Wisconsin in 2020.
Emotions have been running high in the city as the rally gets underway, with the latest incident being when rally crews covered up a “Herb Cole Way” street sign with a “Donald J. Trump Way” sign.
Cole served as a longtime Wisconsin senator and was also the owner of the city’s beloved NBA team, the Milwaukee Bucks.
The sign was quickly removed, but the damage was compounded when state Democrats and Republicans erupted in a Twitter spat over the incident.
As the Republican National Committee, Secret Service and city battle over security coverage for the Republican National Convention and the route for protesters to march, the city has also come under fire for its mismanagement of the 140 registered protesters.
Adding to the anxiety is the fact that state concealed and open carry laws allow guns within the security perimeter but not within the federal border around the convention center.
Trump is aiming to win a historic share of the black vote, which has traditionally gone to the Democratic Party.
The city has the highest percentage of black people in the state, at 29 percent, and elected its first black mayor just two years ago.
“As a native Wisconsinan, I am truly excited that not only will the world come to Milwaukee, but the 2024 Republican National Convention will showcase Milwaukee to the world,” Republican National Convention Chair Rachel Leissner told the Post. “This historic television program will highlight our party’s America First principles, put Milwaukee on the map and undoubtedly have a significant, positive and lasting economic impact on my hometown.”
Four years ago, Milwaukee was preparing to host the Democratic National Convention, a gathering the state’s Republican Party was tying to the state’s socialist history, with Bernie Sanders and AOC headlining the party.
The Democratic National Convention then pulled out over COVID-19 concerns, leaving the city in a bind but with the infrastructure in place to host an event the size of a national political convention.
Claire Koenig with the Milwaukee Tourism Bureau said the city has been helping prepare for the Republican National Convention since receiving a request for proposals in September 2021.
“From an event planning standpoint, Milwaukee resonated as a novel location for the Republican National Convention,” Koenig told The Post.
The Fiserv Forum, where the Milwaukee Bucks play and the Republican National Convention runs from Monday through Thursday, is a 30-acre tourist hub built for events like the Republican National Convention and known to locals as the “Deer District.”
“Economically, this is a great place to live for anyone,” said former Republican state Rep. Dale Kooyenga.
