PITTSBURGH – Former President Trump will have impaired the assassination try towards him to additional divide a politically fractured society, however he rather selected to effort to unify by way of displaying energy and providing an inclusive RNC message, the GOP congressional candidate working within the shooter’s house district mentioned.
James Hayes, the son of a steelworker who went directly to paintings for the Richmond Federal Book sooner than turning back Pittsburgh, mentioned his crowd remains to be reeling from each the assassination try and the invention that shooter Thomas Crooks lived there.
Hayes, working towards “Squad” member Rep. Summer season Lee, D-Pa., mentioned it’s “unimaginable” that the incident would contain a crowd like Bethel Landscape.
“It’s a very conservative group of people that just absolutely love America. They’re very patriotic. And for someone to come out of that area and be the shooter is just unbelievable for all of us,” Hayes mentioned.
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Republican James Hayes is working for Congress in Pittsburgh towards “Squad” member Rep. Summer season Lee, D-Pa. His district comprises tried Trump murderer Thomas Crooks’ house. (Fox Information Virtual)
“I’ve spoken to people in that area, and they just can’t — I mean, they just can’t believe that someone from that area ended up being the shooter,” he mentioned.
Hayes added he used to be now not at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally however did go to Wisconsin to wait the Republican Nationwide Conference.
On the conference, Hayes mentioned, Trump’s resolute response to almost being killed confirmed why he deserved the nomination.
“I think President Trump could have gone either way. If [he] were the demagogue that [people] say, he could have used that [incident] to further divide us to cause further incitement. But he didn’t, because that’s not the person he is,” Hayes mentioned.
“He reached out to America. He made the statement, ‘I don’t want to be the president for 50% of America. I want to be the president for 100% of America’. And I think that we should embrace that. We should embrace that as a people. We want to be Americans.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Saturday, July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“We need to be united as American citizens. That’s what I need. That’s what I need for our crowd. And so I’m truly excited that, possibly out of tragedy, one thing truly excellent can come.”
In terms of his own campaign, in which he faces an uphill battle in one of the bluest districts in the commonwealth, Hayes said he remains optimistic, adding he best aligns with the values of the Pittsburgh area.
“We backup our police. We backup our power trade. We would like oldsters to be serious about our faculties. We completely include immigrants. My spouse herself is a Mexican immigrant, however we would like it to be immigration that’s felony, that we would like society that admire our regulations,” he said.
He said he also hopes to win Democratic votes in deep-blue Pittsburgh, where he lives in the Shadyside neighborhood northeast of downtown.
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A Pittsburgh Police car (Pittsburgh Bureau of Police )
Democrats in Pittsburgh, he said, are not truly aligned with the far-left flank of the party and are still the blue-collar, working-class-values voters who personify the Steel City.
“They don’t backup Hamas. They aren’t having a look to defund the police, to abolish prisons. They aren’t having a look to close i’m sick our power trade,” Hayes said.
“The Democrats on this department include the entire values that I include, and so I absolutely be expecting that I’ll be capable to get Republican votes, I’ll be capable to get Democrat votes and I’ll be capable to get detached votes. And that can elevate me to victory.”