president trump. nevada, 26 delegates. >> madam secretary, the great state of nevada proudly casts all of its 26 votes for president donald j. trump. [ applause ] >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules of procedures of this convention, nevada 26 votes president trump. [ applause ] oklahoma. 43 delegates. >> madam secretary, i am nathan dom, republican party chairman of the great state of oklahoma, the crossroads of our country and the first state to have a president donald j. trump

highway and the only state to have 77 counties vote for president trump two elections in a row with a third time coming up this november. the state of oklahoma proudly casts all of its 43 votes for president donald j. trump. >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, oklahoma 43 votes president trump. west virginia, 32 delegates. >> madam chairman on behalf of the west virginia delegation, my name is patrick morrissey, and i am very proud to cast all 32 votes for the mountaineers, where we're always free and to

cast those 32 votes for our former and future president, donald j. trump. [ cheers and applause ] >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, west virginia, 32 votes, president donald j. trump. new hampshire, 22 delegates. >> madam secretary, my name is corey lewandowski, and i served as president trump's campaign manager in 2016 for that historic victory. i stand before you today on behalf of the great state of new hampshire, the granite state, the first in the nation primary state, the state that delivered president trump's first election victory way back in february of

2016. new hampshire proudly casts all 22 votes for my good friend, the 45th and soon to be 47th president of the united states, donald john trump. [ applause ] >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, new hampshire, 22 votes. president donald j. trump. >> madam secretary, i'm the chairman and i present the great state of nebraska, the good life is our motto where agriculture, beef and corn is the life blood of our economy, where our medical field and university are amongst the top in the nation, but it is our people that embody a nebraska nice modest lifestyle. now to announce our delegate allocation, our delegation

cochair, john tucker. >> madam secretary, the great state of nebraska proudly casts all of its 36 votes for president trump. [ applause ] >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, nebraska, 36 votes president trump. california. [ applause ] california, 169 delegates. >> california represents nearly 5.4 million registered republicans, more than any other state in the nation from its

pristine beaches to its soaring mountains from expansive deserts to the redwood forests, the golden state is responsible for securing today's gop house majority. it will be the state responsible for returning a house majority to washington this november so that president trump has a partner in congress to support his common sense agenda. with the largest delegation in the nation, madam secretary, the great state of california proudly casts all of its 169 votes for president donald trump. >> pursuant to the announcement and delegation, california 169 votes to president trump.

tennessee. tennessee 58 delegates. >> thank you, madam secretary. my name is jack johnson. i have the honor of serving as the republican majority leader in the tennessee state senate. on behalf of our delegation chairman, the honorable 50th governor of the great state of tennessee, i am happy to report that from the mighty mississippi, graceland and beale street to the great smoky mountains, rocky top and dollywood, and lookout mountains and bristol motor speedway and all points in between, we proudly cast all 58 of our votes for the next president of the united states donald j. trump. [ applause ] >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and rules and procedures of this convention,

tennessee 58 votes, president trump, washington 43 delegates. >> madam secretary, washington state, the evergreen state where the people support law enforcement by allowing them to pursue criminals. where the people support families and children by putting into law a parents bill of rights, where the people reform taxes so that families and young people and small businesses can thrive, washington state casts all of its 43 votes for the next president, the past president,

donald j. trump. [ applause ] >> reporter: we are just a few states away from donald j. trump securing the republican nomination for president for the third time, but he has just posted on truth social he has made his selection for president, and it is j.d. vance, the 39-year-old senator from ohio. he writes this on truth social. after lengthy deliberation and thought and considering the tremendous talents of many others, i have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of vice president of the united states is senator j.d. vance from the great state of ohio. j.d. honorably served our country in the marine corps, graduated from ohio state university in two years, sue ma cum laude and is a yale law school graduate where he was editor of the yale law journal and president of the yale law veterans association. j.d.'s book, "hillbilly elegy"

became a major best seller and movie. j.d. has had a very successful business career in technology and finance and now during the campaign 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. so donald j. trump has made his announcement right in the middle of the roll call that j.d. vance is his choice for number two. it is a huge turn around for j.d. vance who back in 2016 was one of donald critics. casting the then reality tv star as a total fraud, one word, one phrase he used for donald trump, an immoral disaster. he even called him america's hitler. but then he said he watched donald trump in office and his actions proved him wrong.

the senator now castigates all of the liberals who made his book a best seller as they sought a window into understanding trumpism. his book did become an international best seller. it really was what cast him into the public eye. vance had, you know, at least complained about donald trump's rise and called himself a never trump guy. we've watched how that's changed since he says he changed his opinion of trump by watching him. one of the things that j.d. vance has done is gotten very close to donald trump's son and we know that donald trump jr. has very much pushed for j.d. vance to be the vice presidential pick. he has been a reliable trump supporter in congress. he's been a reliable trump supporter on the campaign trail. he was with him at a couple of

appearances just in recent weeks. let me go to garrett haake right now. we know who the vice presidential pick is. it is the ohio senator just two years in office j.d. vance, talk about it. >> reporter: 39 years old, chris. historic pick here by donald trump and to my mind a pick that shows a very confident candidate. j.d. vance has recast himself in the maga mold in his time in the united states senate. a true believer in trumpism, one of donald trump's most vociferous and often eloquent defenders on the campaign trail. he's somebody who's not afraid to go outside the kind of fox news bubble to defend donald trump in unlikely audiences. but he's someone who i think will be saddled with a lot of donald trump's policy positions, a lot of donald trump's more aggressive style. the things that people who like donald trump like about him and the people who don't like drurp don't like about him.

he comes from ohio, a safely red seat. i think a lot of the theory here for republicans and vance's supporters in trump world was if you really believe, as so many people do, that this race will come down to pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, j.d. vance is someone who can speak to those voters there and who shores up donald trump more than he expands donald trump's reach. now, i am down here on the floor where news of this announcement has been kind of rippling through the delegates. i'm standing in the back of the idaho delegation. let me see, can i grab you for a second? this is the attorney general of the state of idaho. we were looking at this announcement a second ago, you saw this, what does a j.d. vance pick do in the republican party right now for donald trump? >> well, i think it gets the people energized to go out and vote for donald trump. as you can tell here, people are very excited. they're very excited to make sure that we win this election and i think it brings people together. i think there were a lot of really good candidates, so you know, i think the most important

thing is who trump was going to feel most comfortable with. >> does it help him with people who were not already trump supporters. i imagine j.d. vance would be a popular selection in this room. people who are still watching and trying to make a decision, what does j.d. vance do for donald trump? >> j.d. vance wrote a very important book about what was happening in america, in central america, in areas where people were suffering from poverty, from drugs, from all these other issues. he understands the issue really well. he came from poverty. he came from those areas where people are trying to make america great again, to make sure that we help people in those areas. so i think he can speak to them and speak about their concerns and the issues that they're facing. >> democrats think the most important or one of the most important issues in this race is going to be reproductive rights, protecting access to abortion. j.d. vance has been in favor of a federal abortion ban. that's not donald trump's position. does he create vulnerabilities

for the republican ticket with that position? >> you know, every time you pick a vice president you're going to have issues that you agree and disagree with the president, but it's the president who actually decides what the policy for the presidency is, for the party, for the nation. so i think we're going to follow what president trump wants to do. >> and finally, we've been thinking about the mortality of our presidential candidates a lot over the last couple of weeks, the question about whether joe biden should stay in this race, the assassination attempt on donald trump, is the party, is the country going to be comfortable with a 39-year-old been in the senate just a few years, a heartbeat away from the presidency? >> he's 39, he's only been in the senate for a long time, but he was a successful writer, a successful cinematographer. he had a great movie. he also was a successful businessman. he's had a lot of different experiences. >> you and i are both old enough to remember when republicans went after presidential candidate barack obama for being not experienced enough. he was ten years old.

>> he was ten years older, but he didn't have the experiences j.d. vance had. barack obama was pretty much an organizer his whole life. j.d. vance has done a lot of different things in his life. >> i'll let you get back to watching this, ro labrador, thank you for your time and jumping up. this is a pick that i expect will go over extremely well in this room. i think the question that the trump campaign has at least answered to their satisfaction is that they believe it will at least do no harm if not help donald trump reach the voters that they believe are so critical to their campaign in those rust belt states. the trump campaign has talked about the idea they know they have a weakness with the voters who voted for nikki haley in republican primaries, suburban women, soccer moms, some of the traditional base of the republican party. they have long believed they could replace those voters with more blue collar voters, union members, young latino and african american men, folks who used to reliably vote democrat.

a j.d. vance pick tells me they're going to aggressively pursue that strategy in those states, trying to win back those voters who had been more important parts of republican coalitions of a mitt romney or a george w. bush in the past. >> also worth mentioning j.d. vance is someone who has been a staunch defender on conservative media of donald trump who has gone out and fought for the causes that donald trump believes in and stood by his side. katy tur, we're about to get the delegation from ohio and certainly the news has been rippling through the delegations, and i'm sure the folks in ohio know that it is their native son who is the vice presidential pick. >> reporter: i was talking to the governor of ohio, mike dewine a moment ago. talked to him twice, and put it to him, who was he going to replace j.d. vance with if j.d. vance is the vice presidential nominee. he said it's too early.

i haven't thought about it. i pressed him. he's been one of the front runners for many weeks, and he said, yes, i have thought about it, and it appears he does have a list. though he wasn't ready to reveal who it was, he did say he believes j.d. vance would be a good addition to donald trump's ticket, that he could help him unify. let's listen in to the ohio speech, again, j.d. vance of ohio. let's listen. >> and deliver a win to the united states senate, we proudly cast our 79 votes for president donald j. trump. >> and j.d. vance. >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, iowa 79 votes. president trump. all right. so we just saw the speech from

iowa, from ohio, both touting not just donald trump as the presidential nominee for the republican party, but now the vice presidential nominee j.d. vance. i'm going to send it back down to the floor where jacob soboroff is. he just spoke to somebody who's pretty close to j.d. vance, that is don jr. don jr. is expected to speak before the vice presidential speech on wednesday, and we got that news just the other day, jacob. we all thought the signs were pointing pretty strongly to j.d. vance. >> his resolve is only further strengthened. i think he did spend a lot of time changing up the message. he's been under constant attack. a lot's happened in 48 hours. >> what is that change going to look like, don? practically your father as president, i think you would even say was a divisive figure. what's it going to look like in a second term? >> i don't think testifies a divisive figure at all. i think the media created divisive figure around him. they said he was a traitor, they

went after him in every which way as possible. if the media starts being an honest broker talking about the things he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals he signed around the world, rather than the disaster we're living right now, i think you'd do everyone in the country a big favor. >> i know immigration is important to him. i covered the family separation crisis closely, will we continue to see policies like separating 5,000 children deliberately from their parents? >> you mean the obama administration. >> you know they didn't do that, sir. >> sure. >> will there be a second family separation policy. >> i expect nothing less from you clowns, even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait. you couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense, so just get out of here. >> the nomination continues here in the florida delegation, we're about to hear from eric and don jr. >> jacob soboroff reporting for us down on the floor, asking a tough question to don jr. about family separations. we are waiting right now to hear from the state of florida for the florida nomination of donald

trump, and when that happens we believe that eric trump, donald trump's son will be making that announcement handing over the delegates and then thereby putting over donald trump -- putting donald trump over the line that he needs to become the nominee for the republican party. obviously it is a sure thing. it's going to happen, but that is a moment that they're going to mark with donald trump's family, the moment where he becomes -- he gathers enough delegates here at the convention to become the nominee. this is new york right now. that's elise stefanik handing over the delegates for the state of new york. we spoke earlier to a woman from florida of all places who wanted her to be the vice presidential pick, thought that she would be a very good choice. there was a lot of speculation about her early on. she's risen within the republican party. she's now a member of leadership in the house. she's been a staunch supporter of donald trump and a staunch supporter in what is a very blue state. once you get out of new york city, there are some very red areas, and the thought was you

could try to pick somebody from a place that was unlikely like new york, that did not happen. he eventually went with j.d. vance of ohio and i want to pick up on something that garrett haake said a moment ago, this idea that j.d. vance can talk to the rust belt voters, pennsylvania, indiana -- not indiana, michigan, wisconsin, these swing states that are needed to win the electoral college, and that he'll be able to speak to those voters. i'm going to put a pause on that. i want to go down to florida where we, again, believe that eric trump will be nominating his father. let's listen. >> and everybody in this great city. on behalf of our entire family and on behalf of the 125 delegates in the unbelievable state of florida, we hereby nominate every single one of

them for the greatest president that's ever lived and that's donald j. trump. hereby declaring him the republican nominee for president of the united states of america. >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, florida 125 votes, president trump.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

>> we will now -- we will now continue with the roll call of the states. puerto rico, 23 delegates. >> madam chairman -- >> all right, over the top with the song celebrate, donald trump has now officially gained enough delegates to become the nominee for the republican party. they're going to go through the rest of the state roll call now. they will end with washington, d.c. at that point he will officially be the nominee of the republican party, and then we will hear the

nomination process for j.d. vance. breaking news that j.d. vance will be donald trump's running mate. let's go down to vaughn hilliard who's on the floor with the alabama delegation. vaughn, what do you got? >> i just talked to senator tuberville of alabama here, who told me that he got off the phone this morning with the former president. at that point when they talked about 7:30 a.m. this morning that he, donald trump, had still not made up his mind on who his running mate was. it was still going back and forth with his campaign team about the pros and the cons. for donald trump, he made the selection of j.d. vance, tuberville telling me though he was still new -- we should note senator vance elected to the u.s. senate in november of 2022. so he's only been there for a year and a half, and he said the selection that he was somebody that came in, was astute, knowledgeable and a quick study and somebody who was a good colleague for the republican side to work with here. we -- as we're watching this here unfold, i want to

actually -- mitch mcconnell sup on stage right now, and mitch mcconnell is currently getting booed. we'll let you listen in. >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rules and procedures of this convention, kentucky, 46 votes president trump. >> reporter: we're going to -- we're going to go back and try to find mcconnell. let's go this way. as you just said, as i hear i'm being told we're going to try and find the senate majority leader as he makes his way out of here. of course this is big, of course mitch mcconnell had suggested that when he was among those republican senators not to vote to convict donald trump after his impeachment there after the january 6th attack, he made it clear that the u.s. justice system would be able to make the ultimate call, and it wasn't for the u.s. congress. if he had done that there, could have been the punishment that this day would have never happened again, if mitch

mcconnell had voted with a couple other, there were five other republican senators that voted to convict donald trump. one of the punishments would have been barring the former president from ever running for office again. that did not happen. instead, donald trump is here. he announced his bid for the presidency again and he faced ron desantis, nikki haley, a cast of other individuals running for the position. he is now the nominee. and mitch mcconnell as well as the former secretary elaine chao making the decision to come here. i had to turn to hear what everybody was booing at. we're going to get eric trump here who is making -- right now. >> what this means about the race ahead? mr. trump -- biden's policies are a disaster. america's losing its standing on the world stage. everybody really appreciates donald trump and how -- under

donald trump we had a cheerleader in this country. we don't even have leadership. the people aren't around. they're not present, the policies suck. we're going to win this thing. make no mistake about it. >> what went into the final decision to pick senator vance. what went into the final decision to select senator vance? >> it's been a somber mood. my father got shot at. my father's never been more determined than he is right now. he's more determined to make america great again. >> we're going to try to get a little bit more, but we're going to send it back to you guys here. >> jacob soboroff -- sorry, it's garrett. >> trade that he was looking for -- >> is that a message he's sending with that pick, that this person, this senator is the future of this movement? i mean, there's a movement around donald trump obviously, j.d. vance is now a part of that. wasn't always. >> i mean, i think you could probably look at it like that. we are here in 2024.

we want to look to the future as well, and this is about winning elections on down the line in '28 and beyond, and so i think you probably saw the start of that today with this choice. >> last question, and then i'll let you go. abortion rights, reproductive freedom. democrats think that's going to be a huge issue. j.d. vance is somebody who has supported a federal ban on abortion. it's not something donald trump says he supports. now his running mate's record contradicts his. >> donald trump has said he would never support a federal abortion ban. >> lara trump, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and as we watched garrett haake there, we noticed that mitch mcconnell and his wife elaine chao are making their way out as well as mitch mcconnell got booed here in the convention hall, loud boos indeed. let's talk to -- let's see if vaughn, let's see if garrett zbg to be able to talk to mitch mcconnell, famous for never stopping in the hallway of the capitol for interviews, i imagine it's the same there? >> yeah, look, i mean, mitch mcconnell is a pretty proud

tradition of not talking on camera in the halls of congress and he continues it in the halls of the convention. what i was trying to ask him and what i think is going to become a tension point among republicans quickly, j.d. vance and mitch mcconnell have diametrically opposed views when it comes to the war in ukraine. mitch mcconnell has dedicated what the end of his career, the late stages of his career as minority leader in trying to turn republicans back towards a more reagan-esque foreign policy. j.d. vance swings very much the other way on those issues. a much more isolationist, much more maga foreign policy in line with donald trump. having vance out of the senate might get rid of one headache for mitch mcconnell but it creates another one where you essentially have a republican ticket united in a foreign policy that will look completely different to mitch mcconnell than the republican party he grew up in. by the way, you can tell that this is a very big din in this crowd where mitch mcconnell was roundly booed by the delegates

here. a sign of the completely different direction this party has taken since the ascendency of donald trump despite the fact that without mitch mcconnell those three supreme court justice who is donald trump nominated probably none of them are on the court quite honestly based on the way he handled that process. >> mitch mcconnell laid the foundation that donald trump was able to use to his advantage. on the subject of ukraine, garrett, it's not just donald trump, it's not just j.d. vance, that is the direction that the republican party is moving in, the younger generation that has been taking over, the maga movement of republicans famously stalled things in the house trying to get aid to ukraine. the senate was the firewall, but even that doesn't look as strong as it once was. >> reporter: that's exactly right. i will say it's a live ball. there's more tension there than you might realize. look at mike johnson, for example, someone who's aligned with donald trump on almost every issue, but since becoming speaker of the house, getting access to the intelligence that that job provides, ultimately was someone who supported aid

for ukraine and has talked openly about the importance of continuing it. so that tension is going to be a through line and very much a story in the republican party in the years to come, especially if this ticket takes back the white house. >> all right, garrett haake, i want to bring in henry gomez, our digital reporter who knows a lot about ohio politics. tell us a little bit about the choice of j.d. vance and what that's going to mean for this ticket. >> it's a meteoric rise for vance. i mean, he's less than two years in his first term as a senator. eight years ago he was best known as the author of "hillbilly elegy"upbringing. he was anti-trump at the time. >> he was a never trumper. >> he voted for evan mcmullen, the independent presidential candidate in 2016. so it's been a slow but sharp conversion for vance. he after the 2016 election

sometime around 2017, 2018, as he started looking into his own future in politics, he started making that conversion a little bit more. he talked about how he had some problems with trump's tone and demeanor, but always was supportive of the types of policies trump was going to put in place. wasn't sure, was skeptical that trump would be able to enact those policies. he's been saying since he's happy that trump proved his wrong. >> when you talk about tone and demeanor, the 180 from being a never trumper to now being such a full blown donald trump supporter that you're the vp is one thing, but the tone of j.d. vance has changed as well. especially in the last few days, in reaction to the shooting. he's been pointing the finger directly at democrats and joe biden blaming them for the rhetoric and blaming them for causing somebody to go out and shoot donald trump, even though we don't know the motivations behind that person, the fbi hasn't released anything about his motivations. we know he's a registered republican. he gave $15 to act blue, which

is a liberal leaning advocacy group that supports democratic politicians. but we don't know more than that. a registered republican, a $15 donation are diametric. he's been going after that and using strong and accusatory language. how do you explain not just the change in who he supports, but just the 180 change in his tone and the way that he presents himself? >> well, everything in the last few weeks has been sort of under a microscope of this veep stakes. vance is one of the three finalists. all three of them over the last month or so have been trying to outdo themselves to prove who would be the most loyal attack dog for donald trump. i think what you saw from vance on saturday night was his push to show that he could be that attack dog, if he got a little bit out in front of trump on the rhetoric, we saw him pull back a little bit sunday. we'll see if he can reconcile his style to trump's, and if

trump really is for real about having a new tone now that the shooting has happened, trying to be more of a unifier. if vance adopts more of that unity town or he relies on vance to be the one who goes out there and shows the red meat at the maga movement. he'll be 40 years old, next month. if he's lucky he'll be the third youngest vice president in history. his pick makes him the only heir to the maga movement whose last name isn't trump. if he is out there throwing the red meat to the base, that could be serviceable. >> the very first vice president that's younger than i am. >> me too. >> who do you believe governor dewine might replace him with? who's he going to nominate? >> that's a great parlor game back home in ohio. a lot of o'people expected he would choose matt dolan, the more moderate state senator who ran against bernie mor reno. i would look for him, mike dewine's a savvy politician. he's been around a long time. he knows his pick lost in the primary. i think he's going to look for somebody who can split the

difference between maga and the traditional republican base in ohio. someone who can actually win a primary. the other option is to choose a caretaker, maybe bring back rob portman who left as a place holder until we can have the special election. >> that's if rob portman wants to come back. henry gomez, thank you so much. thanks so much, i want to go to the hill because that is where the day job is at least up until today for senator j.d. vance. ryan nobles is standing by. only a couple years. i'm curious about what you hear from other members of the u.s. senate. obviously his name has been out there for weeks if not months, and also his policies, the fact that he was a big supporter of the overturning of roe v. wade. he's been very tough on immigration policies. including wanting to prevent the use of taxpayer funds for health care for migrants. tell us about j.d. vance and how he's viewed on the hill. >> well, i think, chris, if you were to look for the blueprint of the maga senator and you were

to put -- input the characteristics into a computer, it would output j.d. vance. he has become one of donald trump's biggest warriors in the senate. it's important to keep in mind he came boo a senate that was largely a bulwark of old conservative principles before that round of senators were voted into office the same year he was in 2022. he hasn't been here for very long, so it's not as though he's left an indelible imprint at this point. but he has certainly made his voice known. perhaps as garrett pointed out earlier, rightly so, being one of the loudest voices in opposition for funding for ukraine, raising questions about whether or not american taxpayer dollars should be spent in defending ukraine against russian aggression. he has been someone that has pushed back against that pretty forcefully. he's also found areas for bipartisan cooperation, the most obvious example being that tragic train derailment that

took place in his home state, east palestine, ohio. he has worked with his colleague, sherrod brown, the ohio senator up for re-election, couldn't be further apart on the political spectrum. the two of them have worked together for legislation that is aimed at putting in additional restrictions and reforms to the safety process as it relates to railway and rail safety. he has found those opportunities to find that common ground. he is somebody who i wouldn't necessarily say has become the most popular member of the republican caucus right now. he has found opportunities to present himself and to make a name for himself, but he's not someone necessarily leading causes or leading efforts in the senate. he's not on particularly powerful committees right now. he sits on the commerce committee and the banking committee, and of course he has some of the lowest seniority of anyone in the senate having only been elected in 2022 and the united states senate in particular is a body that really

appreciates and rewards seniority. there's going to be probably mixed reaction to him as the pick for president trump, former president trump in terms of how this race goes forward. i think you ultimately will see many of his republican senate colleagues in particular rally around him and support the ticket and show that level of support that maybe they weren't doing quietly behind the scenes because this is a republican party that is solidly behind donald trump at this point. it is important to point out, though, chris, that you know, there's still work to be done here in the united states senate over the next couple of months. yes, they've passed most of the major pieces of legislation that they needed to pass prior to this kind of campaign sprint. there are still judicial nominations. there's still a funding issue that needs to be resolved in early september that are going to require votes, and the margins in the united states senate are still razor thin between republicans and

democrats, so if he's out on the campaign trail, he won't be able to be here to cast votes. that's another thing to keep in mind. there are a lot of dynamics at play here, chris. i do think it's an interesting choice. i'm not sure a year ago from now if you had said that j.d. vance would be the front runner for vice president that many of his colleagues would have agreed with you, but as it came closer and closer to the selection, he was clearly emerging as a favorite and to the point where many people would be surprised if he were not the pick when the dust settled today. >> ryan nobles on the hill for us. thanks very much. i want to bring in former congressman charlie dent from pennsylvania. and it's not unexpected that in the statement announcing this donald trump wrote that j.d. vance will be focused, strongly focused, he says, on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the american workers and farmers in pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. so let me ask you about what

value you think he has as a running mate for those key battleground states where now, if you look at the latest polls, it's too close to call in those battleground states. you're from allentown. it's the kind of place that a lot of people argued j.d. vance could relate to because of the book he wrote. "hillbilly elegy" having grown up poor in ohio. what do you make of this pick and what value do you think he has in those battleground states particularly in the midwest, or do you think it's overstated? >> well, it appears to me that donald trump has doubled down on his maga base through his selection of j.d. vance. this does not expand the trump base in my view, maybe a rubio would have done that or some other person, but that -- this is not going to expand the base for the republican party. in fact, i would argue that there are going to be a lot of republicans that are going to be unhappy with this selection because many of us believe that

we ought to have a principles based conversation about the future of the party. most of us are opposed to appeasing russia. most of us are opposed to 10% tariffs across the board, this isolationist protectionist type of agenda. and i think many of us who are more traditional republicans, you know, we want to have that debate about the future. and you know, the maga roots are rather shallow, and the types of principles i'm talking about that i've been working with jack danforth and others through our republican legacy, we're trying to have a policy-focused conversation on peace through strength, we're against these ridiculous tariffs. we think appeasing russia is a mistake. we should be embracing allies. to me it seems j.d. vance embraces all the things many of us are objecting to. i don't see how this brings a lot of new people into the fold. particularly that nikki haley voter, you know, who i think articulated a vision closer to

what i'm talking about. >> let me go down back on the floor. we have governor mike dewine once more with vaughn hillyard. it is the senator from his state that is the vice presidential pick of donald trump. vaughn to you. >> reporter: governor dewine, now the pick has been formalized. your senator j.d. vance is now the selection. have you had the chance to connect with him yet? >> no, i've not. we've been pretty busy down here on the floor. i know he's very busy. >> you were talking to him earlier today. >> yeah, i talked to him earlier today. this is very exciting for the state of ohio. this is a great thing for ohio. ohio is the heart of it all, now we're going to have the candidate, and we hope the vice president. >> when did you meet vance? >> i sought him out. i thought it was fascinating what he articulated in ha book. he and his wife came over for dinner, the governor's residence. we had the opportunity to host

them. we've been friends since. we have a good working relationship, which i'm looking forward to continuing when he's in the white house. >> two things for you, one, where does ohio go this year with him as the pick? >> ohio's going to go for trump. he won by eight points the first time, eight the second time. the real question is the u.s. senate. bernie morino who's right here today running for the united states senate against sherrod brown, a very tough race. i think bernie can win. we know it's going to be a real battle. >> last thing for you, you have caught the ire of donald trump over the years. j.d. vance caught the ire of donald trump with some of his statements back in 2016, the last time we were at a convention together, it was a much different atmosphere, if i could say that. what has been your advice to him in terms of navigating that and getting to this point where he could be comfortable accepting the vice presidency with donald trump? >> i'm not going to give him any advice. he's become the vice presidential nominee, so he

doesn't need any help from me. i just look forward to working with him. i've always felt that the governor of ohio needs to work with the president of the united states. frankly, no matter who the president is. i've done it with donald trump, and then i've done it with joe biden. i look forward to working with trump and vance in the future. >> governor, thank you. >> thank you. >> governor dewine of ohio, guys. >> vaughn hillyard, vaughn, thank you very much. i tried mighty hard to get a list out of him, and he would not give it to me a little bit earlier. we just got confirmed that rfk jr. running on an independent ticket met with donald trump today here in cleveland -- i'm sorry, here in milwaukee. it's unclear what they spoke about. we're trying to report that out. it's notable that they did meet. david french is with us as well. david, you know i love talking to you about the state of affairs in this rnt can, and i would -- this country, i would love to get your take as you watch the opening of this convention with the backdrop of what happened on saturday and now the news that j.d. vance is

the vice presidential pick. >> i think this is the pick of a man who's quite confident that he's going to win because j.d. vance doesn't bring a lot to the ticket. this is a person who underperformed governor dewine in 2022 by around 18 points or so and almost 400,000 votes, not clear to me what constituency that trump doesn't already have that vance helped him with. this is the pick of a guy who wants to turn back. greater degree. >> will do what trump tells him to do, but this is not the unifying outreach kind of pick. this is i'm doubling down on maga and hoping i'm going to win my pick. >> about an essay you just

posted, it's an audio essay in "the new york times" and the headline is in trump's moment of maximum influence, there is reason for hope. this is a man who when he came down an escalator, almost no one thought maybe the greatest majority ever thought that he could not win, that he was in it to get more publicity to burnish his brand. he not only won that election, he has stayed throughout everything, as you know, the driving force of the republican party, changed the republican party. i guess the question is when you survive an assassination attempt, is it possible that it changes you? he's talked about unity. he says he's rewriting his speech. tell me a little bit about your thoughts through this essay and what impact you think this moment has. >> right. look, i'm not naive. i'm not expecting a big trump change in tone. there have been many times in the last nine years where people

have said here's the new donald trump. here's the new change of tone, and it never worked out. what he went through is genuinely terrifying. what he went through is difficult to comprehend, and when you sit with it for a minute after all the adrenaline is over, you just don't know what kind of effect it has on a person. and so there have been some promising signs early on that he wants to turn the page to some degree, but we just have to wait and see. but i don't think that we should just automatically assume that something that terrifying, that something that consequential doesn't have an impact on a person and it just -- it's time to wait and see what that impact is. >> what are you going to be looking for to tell you whether or not that's true? is it as simple as his speech? what are you looking for? >> it's not just the speech, although the speech will be immensely significant. this might end up being one of the most watched political speeches in our modern era because people will want to hear what donald trump says to this

convention right after this assassination attempt. so he's going to have an opportunity to either turn the page or sort of reaffirm what he's always done. but the test will really be not just the speech, but in the days and weeks that follow in the heat of the campaign, we'll just have to see. but again, i'm not naive. i'm not expecting donald trump to be a different donald trump, but i am saying he's gone through and an experience that almost no one goes through and is extraordinary terrifying. we'll just need to see how that lands with him over time. >> it is one of those moments that does change people if there is a moment to change someone, going to be something like that. i think the reason so many people are skeptical and so many people won't hold their breath, we've been here so many times before. you mentioned this, there was this thought that after the 2016 campaign and jake sherman you know this as well, that donald trump was going to walk into the oval office and become a changed man.

he'd feel the weight of the oval office and the presidency and he'd sit at the resolute desk and he would understand what it meant to be president, and he would change his style, change his rhetoric, become more of a uniter, maybe start on infrastructure instead of starting on a border wall. and that didn't happen. then again, this is a different sort of thing. he had a bullet graze his ear. there's a photo of it rushing past his head, but for the momentary tilt of his head, that bullet would have hit him square in the head and he very likely wouldn't be here. when you're -- when you've come here, we all were scheduled to come to this event for weeks now, it's taken on so much more significance after saturday. have you experienced anything that would lend you to believe that this party is having a heart to heart with itself? >> no. no. no. no. but i will say this the era of inevitability in this building is palpable. there is no anxiety that i could

sense. here is what i would say, if donald trump wins the presidency and wins the senate and wins the house, which -- keeps the house, which is not -- this is not a far off possibility, this is -- i don't know about a likelihood but let's call it a light likelihood, donald trump is going to be pushed by the extreme elements in his party to get as much done as quickly as possible, the border wall, deportations, all the things that he has said he's going to do, he is going to try to do -- >> they want to get to according to steven miller a million deportations a day. >> because trump is guided by the idea according to mike johnson, the speaker of the house, that he wasted time in 2017 because they didn't have plans in place because they didn't expect he would win. when he gets into the office, if he gets into the office in january 2025 he's going to do as much as he can as quickly as he can. >> jake, hold on, i want to go to vaughn hillyard who has the

delegate in the state of ohio running against sherrod brown. >> j.d. vance senator from your state was just selected here. have you had the chance to connect with the senator yet and what should folks expect out of him for somebody, you have known him for a while now? >> what they should know is that j.d. vance is fund amount a great human being, he is a great person. he's going to fight to make certain we secure our border, have energy dominance and that we make things in america. we restore our middle class. he came from that world. he will make certain that the republican party stands with them. that's what this nomination means. couldn't be more proud of j.d. vance. >> have you had conversations with him in recent days or weeks about this process? >> you snow, other than to wish him the best of luck, obviously his entire life has been turned upside down, but he is a great man, he is a fighter like president trump s he is a fierce fighter, he will be a great person to stand alongside president trump to make this country great again. >> reporter: you're going up against incumbent senator

sherrod brown, democrat, democrats are on the defense in a lot of states around the country including in ohio here. what should folks expect over the next three and a half months with trying to protect states like ohio where donald trump has won decisively two election cycles in a row. >> they should expect that sherrod brown has been in office almost 50 years, a forever politician, never a job in the private sector. he will throw a lot of mud my way because he has a record he can't back up. he can't defend his voting record which is hideous for ohio, terrible for working class americans. ohio has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs since he's been in office. i think the american people are sick of these forever politicians, these people that go there forever, live on a paycheck from the government their entire lives. they want outsiders that go to washington, d.c. to serve. that's what i'm going to do. >> bernie moreno, thank you very much. republican candidate up against democratic senator sherrod brown this november from ohio. >> vaughan, thank you very much.

jake, can we just talk about that for a second. bernie moreno not governor dewine's first pick, he endorsed his opponent, did not win, he was the more maga pick. sherrod brown what are her prospects in ohio? >> here is what i would say, if there's any democrat who could win in a red state it's sherrod brown. he has great popularity numbers compared to other democrats in red states. but it's difficult to see if donald trump wins by 12 points, 6 points, 8 points, that sherrod brown is going to be able to outrun biden by that much. i mean, this is actually here is what i would say, trump choosing j.d. vance will probably help bernie moreno in a big way and if he doesn't win there is an appointment around the corner. i have a sneaking suspicion that he will be in the senate one way or another. >> the down ballot worries,

we've been talking about this more than a week after president biden's debate performance, democrats were worried that president biden at the top of the ticket was going to affect their down-ballot prospects, at the same time they've consistently polled better than president biden has in the national polling and there have been a number of special elections that have pointed to democrats being popular with the electorate. they've won in places even where they should not have won, even in contested places and ballot initiatives favored by the democrats have won. i wonder if the world has so fundamentally changed that now the general belief is that democrats now don't have a chance any longer because joe biden had a bad debate performance and donald trump had a brush with death? >> here is the big problem for democrats. if democratic voters believe that the race is over and just don't go and show up. if they're so dispirited by joe biden and think he's going to lose they don't show up to the ballot box, that's what i keep hearing from house democrats who are fighting to win the chamber,

win the majority, get it back from republicans, i don't know that the dynamics have shifted as much as people think. these seats are drawn incredibly tight, the battlefield is the same, i hate to say this because it's cliché but democrats might have trouble getting their voters out to vote if they believe joe biden will lose. >> one more question. democrats are obviously running that donald trump is going to be bad for the country and they're talking about democracy but are also talking about his economic policies, what he wants to institute in terms of trade, he wants a 10% tariff on all trade coming in, they're worried about a trade war, point to go economists who say that's going to make everybody's costs of living a whole lot more, groceries will be more expensive, goods will be more expensive, he will be problematic on the economy. they're going to try to point to the record of the biden presidency on the economy, which is doing better >> that's right. >> by all metrics, it is doing better. >> that's right. >> now that we have moved on from the conversation of just the other week about joe biden and been talking more about the

rnc convention, what happened to donald trump on saturday, is the conversation that we were having before about president biden -- >> over? >> -- over? >> no, i don't think it is because, remember, we're going to have -- presumably going to have democrats come out this week and say that they don't want joe biden to be the nominee. then we go to chicago in a couple of weeks where all of the discussion or at least a lot of the discussion is going to be about democrats were dispirited and not happy with joe biden. >> just remember, chris, we're watching the republican national convention right now, but tonight there is a big interview with our own lester holt and president biden, it was supposed to be done in austin to celebrate the rifle rights act, instead it's going to be done in the white house because of what happened on saturday. >> yeah, it's changed definitely the contours of this race. we had the president speaking in delaware right after the assassination attempt, then did he that rare only third for him oval office address where he called for unity in the country, but backdrop of all of this doesn't change which is that

when he sits down with lester holt and that interview airs tonight, people will be watching to see is this a man they believe is competent to lead this country for the next four years and there will be this natural contrast with what we see right now from donald trump and his campaign. if i can go back to you, charlie dent, because obviously this has made the campaign itself rethink how they approach things, when they can go back perhaps to what you would say is the more traditional style of campaigning that we've seen which is attack, right? so on one hand you're calling for unity, on the other hand you still want to win the presidency. we are learning from a couple of folks who are close to the campaign that they are ready for j.d. vance, they're going to paint him as extreme, not surprisingly, are going to put out some of the things he has talked about, a total fraud one of the things he called donald trump, but what do you think is the importance of the tone now for how long and what are you

looking for tonight from joe biden? >> well, in terms of tone, look, i hope after this horrible shooting, i'm so pleased that donald trump is okay after this shooting, but we have to -- we have to turn the temperature down clearly and we want to see more unifying speech from our elected officials, but, hey, i'm a little bit skeptical. look, politics is a tough business, bare knuckle, people are not going to agree on everything, but i'm hoping if we can't have unity, perhaps -- perhaps we can have more civility and we can get back to having conversations about policy, principles and ideas rather than simply restoring the name calling, you know, ridicule, insults. we need to move away from that and our politics is so broken that this course is so bad out of this horrible shooting maybe we can get to that space. i hope that during this

republican convention we're going to hear from officials who are going to try to turn the temperature down, talk about, you know, what it is they stand for. and like i like having this conversation about j.d. vance, for example. this is really a great conversation to have. i mean, he stands for tariffs and russian appeasement, let's have those policy debates without insulting each other. >> charlie dent, we have to let that be the last word because we are almost out of time. i thank you and katy tur, we should end it by saying vice president harris has called j.d. vance to offer congratulations. >> you took the words right out of my mouth, chris. that's going to do it for us, "deadline: white house" continues our coverage of the republican national convention right now. ♪♪ >> hi, everyone. how are we doing? it's 4:00 in the new york, it is 3:00 p.m. in milwaukee on a way dai in which a series of stunning and