CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The 2020 Republican National Convention is not quite how anyone had pictured it to be prior to COVID-19, but Republican delegates say what they plan to accomplish during the event has not changed.

 


What You Need To Know

  • The RNC officially starts Monday at 9 a.m.

  • Monday, 336 delegates representing 50 states, six territories and Washington, D.C., will formally renominate President Donald Trump

  • The RNC has been dramatically scaled back due to the pandemic


RNC delegate Amy Carnevale says she was in Cleveland four years ago when President Donald Trump was selected as the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2016.

“The feeling and enthusiasm of being surrounded by tens of thousands of people in Cleveland was really electric,” Carnevale says. “So it is certainly a different feeling now.”

Carnevale says it's certainly less chaotic and quieter this time around. She traveled from Massachusetts to be in Charlotte for the 2020 RNC. She was one of many delegates who was tested for COVID-19 before she left and a second time when she arrived in Charlotte.

“We have had daily health checks with a nurse, both on our app and in person, to confirm that we are feeling well and don’t have COVID symptoms,” Carnevale says.

RNC delegate Ada Fisher from North Carolina says during that health check, they take each person’s temperature.

“You get a different wristband everyday saying that you have been screened and that allows you to do whatever else you want to do,” Fisher says.

The chairman for the South Carolina Republican Party, Drew McKissick, says viewers can expect speakers during the RNC to talk about policies and what President Trump hopes to accomplish if re-elected for a second term.

“Issues move people and issues win campaigns because they are relevant to people’s lives,” McKissick says. “They vote on the basis of those issues.”

When asked if President Trump will make a stop in Charlotte, he also seemed optimistic.

“I would say it is probably better than average,” McKissick says.