MOLINE, Illinois — Rock Island Republicans met for a Chairman Picnic at Ben Butterworth Park on the Mississippi riverfront. Members of the Rock Island Republicans group met with each other, as well as candidates whose names will be on the ballot come November's election.
"The overall sense was we love our country," said John Adkins of the aura of last week's Republican National Convention. Adkins was one of 69 delegates from the state of Illinois to attend the RNC.
Adkins perspective, from the floor of the RNC, is that the delegates were unified - something he hopes continues through November.
"We think Donald [Trump] can bring us together and do some great things, and we are united," said Adkins, who was the delegate for Illinois' 17th district.
On Saturday, July 23, 2016 he attended the Chairman Picnic and told members of the Rock Island County Republicans about his time in Cleveland.
"I just want to share that with the people here, unless you get it straight from the source, it's filtered sometimes. I just want to tell them what the facts were," said Adkins. He said attending the RNC was a, "dream come true."
The Rock Island Republicans will spend time and money from now until November campaigning for not only GOP nominee, Donald J. Trump, but also local candidates - such as Brandi McGuire for State Representative 72nd District and Tony McCombie for State Representative District 71.
"We're raising money," said Jack Boccarossa, Rock Island Republican, "One of the things we'll do is then donate that money to our candidates and help them with their expenses," he said.
For Boccarossa, who said he watched every minute of the RNC, trust in Trump is amplified by the nominee's children, who one-by-one took to the grand stage during the four-day RNC.
"The thing that impressed me the most were Trump's children and how well they spoke, and they didn't seem like they were brats and kids of wealth," said Boccarossa.
Though Adkins said the RNC was overall a unified event, one point of division came when Senator Ted Cruz (R) Texas addressed the crowd at the RNC and did not give his endorsement of Mr. Trump.
"We could read the speech ahead of time on the teleprompter," said Adkins, "The crowd was behind him 110-percent, ready to explode in celebration with him and he did not endorse," he recalled.
Despite Senator Cruz not giving his endorsement at the RNC, Adkins said he and his fellow delegates left the convention with a sense of unity.