Bay Area Republicans Enthusiastic About Trump As GOP Convention Kicks Off
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) - San Francisco isn't exactly Trump country but as the GOP convention kicked off Monday in Charlotte, there are supporters in the City by the Bay and some believe the Republicans are more enthusiastic about their candidate than the Democrats are about theirs.
As chairman of the SF Republican Party, John Dennis knows what it feels like to be a minority.
"For some people, we're kind of a novelty," he said with a laugh. "You know, I'm going to bring a Republican to a party! That kind of thing…"
Dennis believes Donald Trump is much better than Joe Biden at energizing political supporters. But that is also why the president's campaign has more to lose from the pandemic.
"Events are really his specialty," Dennis said. "He's a primetime performer and so, for him, it's important to be in front of crowds. So I suspect they'll try to have as many events as possible with social distancing and masks so he can leverage that talent of his. But I also think it really impedes him and hurts him more than it does the Democrats."
In Walnut Creek, Tom Del Beccaro is former chairman of the California GOP and now does political analysis for cable news. He believes it's vital for candidates to project positivity and feels candidate Trump has improved in that regard.
"As you look at what he does in press conferences, he's now more measured and less negative," said Del Beccaro. "That's in no small part the help of Kellyanne Conway and others. And he needs to follow through with that for the rest of this campaign and the rest of his time as president."
But in San Mateo, Republican Christina Laskowski says, as a woman, she supports the president's direction even if he may lack polish.
"He may say things that we might not be comfortable with," she said, "but at the end of the day, if he's able to execute and do the things he says he's going to do…that's what's important to me and that's what's important to a lot of other voters who support him."
And with President Trump appearing multiple times on just the first day of the convention, his supporters will likely be seeing a lot of him as the week rolls on.
