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Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Núñez to Speak at This Week’s Republican National Convention

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Jeanette Núñez is preparing to take the national stage…

The 48-year-old Cuban American Florida Lieutenant Governor politician and businesswoman, who currently serves as Florida’s Lieutenant Governor, will speak at this week’s Republican National Convention.

Jeanette Núñez

Núñez will speak on Tuesday night as part of the Republicans’ Land of Opportunity-themed day at the RNC.

Meanwhile, Mary Ann Mendoza, the mother of Mesa Police Department sergeant Brandon Mendoza, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a head-on car collision in Arizona in 2014, will also speak on Tuesday.

This week, Republicans are looking to energize their base – and bid for sought-after undecided voters – as they hold their own part digital, part in-person convention to officially nominate President Donald Trump as their 2020 candidate.

The Republican National Convention, like its Democratic counterpart, is held each presidential election cycle and is where the party finalizes and presents its policy platforms going into the final stretch of the campaign. During the event, Republican delegates from across the country also pledge their votes for potential candidates based on the outcome of state primary elections.

This year, no more than 336 delegates – the 2016 convention had more than 2,400 – will gather in-person in Charlotte, North Carolina, to conduct the roll call vote and formally nominate Trump, who faced little opposition in the primary season. 

The unorthodox convention is expected to be a test for the Republican party.

Initially scheduled to be a traditional in-person gathering in Charlotte, in June the party moved most of the convention to Jacksonville, Florida after clashing with North Carolina’s governor over coronavirus restrictions. 

Then in late July, Trump cancelled the Jacksonville portion of the convention completely as infections in the state rose. The party then pivoted towards a more digital approach. 

Democrats, in contrast, had been repurposing their convention to be fully digital since June.

The four-day convention, running from August 24 to 27, will center around an overarching theme of “Honoring the Great American Story” and will feature everyday Americans who will testify that the president has positively affected their lives, according to the campaign. Events will be live streamed during the day, with the main programming taking place between 8:30pm and 11pm (00:30 GMT and 03:00 GMT) each night. 

Vice President Mike Pence, who will also accept the party’s nomination, said on Friday the convention would focus on the economy and law and order, while its speakers will present the Democratic party as being taken over by “the radical left.”

Trump is also expected to feature prominently during each day of the event before making his acceptance speech, likely from the South Lawn of the White House, on the final day.

Here’s the schedule for the upcoming convention: 

Monday, August 24

Theme:
“Land of Promise”

Speakers:
A maximum of 336 delegates will meet in the morning from 9am to 1pm (13:00 – 17:00 GMT) before conducting a nighttime roll call in which Trump and Pence will officially be nominated.
Senator Tim Scott 
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise 
Representative Matt Gaetz 
Representative Jim Jordan 
Former Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel
Georgia State Representative Vernon Jones
Amy Johnson Ford
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Natalie Harp
Charlie Kirk
Kim Klacik
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, St Louis couple who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters
Congressional candidate Sean Parnell
Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting
Donald Trump Jr.
Tanya Weinreis, Montana coffee shop owner whose business and employee’s livelihoods were saved by the federal virus relief Paycheck Protection Program

Tuesday, August 25

Theme:
“Land of Opportunity”

Speakers:
First Lady Melania Trump
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Senator Rand Paul
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee who is now an anti-abortion activist.
Jason Joyce
Myron Lizer
Mary Ann Mendoza
Megan Pauley
Cris Peterson
John Peterson
Nicholas Sandmann, Kentucky Catholic high school student who successfully sued a media organisation for not providing context to a confrontation with a Native American activist at Right to Life march that went viral
Eric Trump
Tiffany Trump

Wednesday, August 26

Theme:
“Land of Heroes”

Speakers:
Vice President Mike Pence
Second Lady Karen Pence
Senator Marsha Blackburn
Senator Joni Ernst
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem
Representative Dan Crenshaw
Representative Elise Stefanik
Representative Lee Zeldin
Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell
White counselor Kellyanne Conway
Vice Presidential National Security Advisor Keith Kellogg
Jack Brewer
Sister Dede Byrne
Madison Cawthorn
Scott Dane
Clarence Henderson
Ryan Holets
Michael McHale
Congressional candidate Burgess Owens
Lara Trump

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Theme:
“Land of Greatness”

Speakers:
President Donald Trump
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell 
Senator Tom Cotton
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy
Representative Jeff Van Drew 
Ivanka Trump
White House Deputy Assistant Ja’Ron Smith
Police Sergeant Ann Dorn, widow of retired police captain David Dorn who was killed during violent protests in St Louis in June
Debbie Flood
Former mayor of NYC Rudy Giuliani
Franklin Graham
Alice Johnson, a woman whose prison sentence was commuted by Trump
Wade Mayfield
Carl and Marsha Mueller, parents of Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian worker killed by ISIL (also known as ISIS)
Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

Tom Perez to Appear on Politico’s New Streaming Series “Plug In with Playbook”

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Tom Perez is getting Politico…

The 58-year-old Dominican American politician, attorney and current chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), will appear on Politico’s new streaming series, which is tied to its popular Playbook newsletter and franchise.

Tom Perez

Politico’s Plug In with Playbook will be streamed at 9:00 AM ET each morning from the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention.

The Democrats’ convention will begin on August 17,  and Republicans’ convention will launch a week later, on August 24.

Plans for the show will move forward even though both conventions will be virtual.

On Wednesday, Democrats announced that Joe Biden would no longer travel to Milwaukee to deliver his acceptance speech and instead would do so from his home state of Delaware.

Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, co-authors of Playbook, will anchor the 45-minute show, with plans to interview politicians and party insiders.

In addition to Perez, guests for the DNC include convention CEO Joe Solmonese, Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders, and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who was the vice presidential nominee in 2016.

Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is one of the guests so far during the week of the GOP convention.

Plug In with Playbook also will feature “deep-dive political segments and conversations with Politico journalists, as well as analysis of down-ballot races and a look at this cycle’s swing states. The show may continue at key moments during the campaign.

The show will be live-streamed on Politico’s conventions hub, with a link on Politico’s homepage.

George P. Bush Debating a Run for State Office in Texas

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It looks like George Prescott Bush may continue his family’s political legacy…

The 36-year-old half-Mexican American attorney says he’s close to settling on campaigning for the position of Texas Land Commissioner next year. He doesn’t believe he’ll make up his mind until he knows what Texas Governor Rick Perry, a fellow Republican, decides to do.

George P. Bush

“We for sure are running, the question is the office,” Bush told The Associated Press during the first interview about his political future since filing paperwork in November to seek elected office in Texas.

Bush’s father is former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, his grandfather is former President George H.W. Bush and his uncle is former President and Texas Governor George W. Bush. Perry has been governor since George W. left for the White House.

The land commissioner position has traditionally served as a steppingstone to higher office, but Bush said little about any plans to eventually become a national political force.

Instead, Bush spoke about how his past experience as an asset manager would help him manage the Permanent Schools Fund, which pays for public education and is managed by the land commissioner. He also said his perspective as an Afghanistan war veteran will help him use the post to become a leader in veterans’ affairs.

Bush said he would announce his final decision after the Texas Legislature adjourns in May but added that his choice will depend “where the governor’s thinking is.” Perry, who made an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination in the race for president, remains popular in Texas, and he’s planning to reveal this summer if he’ll seek another term.

Some have speculated that Bush could challenge Perry for governor — and even if he doesn’t, what Perry decides will trigger political dominos falling.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson plans to run for lieutenant governor next year, creating a vacancy in his office. But Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, may himself run for governor in 2014, meaning his post could be open too.

Bush suggested he’d be willing to wait his turn politically rather than immediately seeking top positions coveted by others in the state GOP.

“We’ve said that we want to be team players in the party, providing a younger, fresher vision for our values,” he said.

Bush speaks Spanish, and his mother Columba is from Mexico. Conservatives view George P. Bush on the ballot as a way to solidify support among Hispanics.

A Democrat hasn’t won statewide office in Texas since 1994, but Hispanics tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic and accounted for two-thirds of Texas’ population growth over the last decade. Bush noted: “We’ll be majority Hispanic in six years.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with the idea that having a candidate of Hispanic origin, or someone who can speak Spanish, can automatically obtain these votes,” Bush said of Hispanics. “Having said that, it’s important tactically to have candidates that understand issues of the community.”

Bush said of trying to stand out among his famous political family, “It’s always been the thing of my grandmother to say, ‘Go out and make a name for yourself’ and that’s something that I’ve followed.”

“But who better to ask for advice on politics than two former presidents and a former governor?” he said. “They’re not involved in the day-to-day operations. They’re not involved in formulating my ideology. It’s more of an informal advice.”

Bush said his grandfather inspired him to join the military, and he was deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He said that before enlisting, he knew politics was in his blood but felt he was too inexperienced to run for office.

It wasn’t until the last few months, however, that “I felt it was time for my generation to step forward in state politics,” Bush said.

Bush now spends his time crisscrossing Texas and the country, raising money and meeting with supporters. He was in Austin on Monday and posed for pictures outside the state Capitol before disappearing into meetings with legislators.

Hinojosa Becomes Texas Democrats’ First Latino Chairman

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Gilberto Hinojosa has made history in the Lone Star State…

The 59-year-old Mexican American politician has become the first Latino elected by the Texas Democrats to the state’s chairman’s position, a move indicating the party intends to play a bigger role in the Republican-dominated state.

Gilberto Hinojosa
Hinojosa,  a former judge, county party leader and member of the Democratic National Committee, was overwhelmingly chosen to lead the party for the next two years by delegates on the last day of the state convention in Houston. He’ll replace Boyd Richie, who has led the party since 2006.

The Mission-native takes over a party that hasn’t won a statewide election since 1994 and doesn’t control either chamber of the Texas Legislature. But the state’s evolving demographics favor Democrats, with non-Hispanic whites now making up less than 50 percent of the population. In the 2010 election, more than 85 percent of minorities voted Democratic.

“We as a party need to realize that there are more of us than there are of them,” said Hinojosa. “We believe that everyone in this great state deserves an equal chance … and we can only do that if we win elections.”

Fort Worth state Rep. Marc Veasey, currently in a runoff for a Democratic nomination to Congress, welcomed Hinojosa as someone who had experience working at the national level and at organizing the grassroots of the party.

“His election is historic and besides that, Gilberto is a good guy,” Veasey said. “He is a coalition builder; he gets along with a broad group of people.”

Hinojosa has promised to change the math on Texas elections. In the May 29 primary vote, twice as many Republicans cast ballots as Democrats, but, overall, less than 20 percent of registered voters showed up. Turnout among Texas Hispanics has never matched that in other states with significant Latino populations.

“There is no independent issue out there that has caused this to happen,” Hinojosa said. “They are not going to go out and vote for anybody if they are not engaged, no matter how dynamic of a leader you’ve got running … as a party we have to engage them and offer strong candidates.”

Hinojosa was the first in his family to attend college at the University of Texas-Pan American and graduated from Georgetown University Law School.