GOP Convention Reveals Unelected Speakers Who Will Help Support Trump

Republicans will rely on a roster of lesser-known speakers to deliver themes and narratives, along with elected officials and former President Donald Trump, at next week’s Republican National Convention.

The list of more than two dozen “everyday Americans” speakers shared with NBC News includes several immigrants and Black Americans, part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to make inroads with groups that have tilted against Republicans. Many of the speakers will argue that President Joe Biden is responsible for the challenges they have faced, including the impact of the fentanyl crisis, economic difficulties and internal divisions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Several speakers have a history of political activism and running for local or state office. The lineup also includes several former Democrats, some of whom voted for Biden in 2020.

One speaker described in a convention announcement as a “lifelong Democrat” is Steamfitters Local 638A business manager Robert “Bobby” Bartles, Jr. He attended the former president’s recent visit to New York City with construction workers civil.

Annette Albright, a former school employee in Charlotte, North Carolina, will also speak at the convention. A Facebook account with her name and image used to criticize Trump, especially following the January 6, 2021 riot by Trump supporters at the Capitol. The page labeled it “an attempt to overstep our democracy and was [led] by the President of the United States.

But after a failed run for local school board in 2023, Albright in April 2024 posted a message on her campaign Facebook page criticizing Democrats and what she called “the liberal white women who strong-armed” the organization, denying his previous loyalty. to the Democratic Party. That same month, she spoke at an event held by the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

Immigration will be at the center of the convention in several speeches, including one from Michael Morin, brother of Rachel Morin, who was killed while hiking last year. An El Salvador man who entered the U.S. illegally was arrested last month and charged with murdering her. Trump has remained in touch with the family and cited Morin’s story in his speeches condemning Biden’s border policies.

Other speakers focused on immigration include Linda Fornos, a naturalized immigrant from Nicaragua and single mother who lives in Las Vegas. She plans to vote for Trump for the first time in November. Arizona rancher Jim Chilton, who owns acreage along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, is also speaking. He has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policy.

Army veteran David Bellavia, another speaker, received the Medal of Honor from former Trump in 2019 and has a history of unsuccessful runs for Congress.

Weeks after Trump was found guilty in his secret trial in New York, one of the speakers will share his story about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against Trump. Madeline Brame, who testified before Congress several times about violent crimes in Manhattan, fiercely criticized Bragg’s handling of the case following the murder of his son, Army veteran Hason Correa.

And members of the predominantly Jewish Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will also make an appearance, after going viral for protecting an American flag during a pro-Palestine protest on campus. Shabbat “Alexander” Kestenbaum is also scheduled to speak. Kestenbaum et al. filed a lawsuit in January against Harvard administrators, alleging that the university had treated anti-Semitism with “deliberate indifference.” Kestenbaum also testified before Congress in May and is described in a convention press release as “a longtime Democrat who will vote for President Trump for the first time this year.”