Ed Rynders elected as delegate to GOP national convention

ALBANY — Lee County state Rep. Ed Rynders was elected as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention at the GOP State Convention held this past weekend in Augusta.

Rynders, who is making his fourth trip to the national convention, was selected along with Peach County’s Jade Morey. The election of the two gives U.S. House District 2 a total of five delegates headed to the national convention, which is set for July 18-21 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Alec Poitevint of Decatur County, Brandon Phillips of Grady County and Joseph Brannan of Muscogee County were elected earlier.

Rynders was one of 31 delegates elected over the weekend from among a pool of nearly 200 applicants, and nearly 1,600 Republicans voted on the at-large and alternate delegates. Georgia will carry 76 delegates to the national convention.

Despite a sometimes rancorous primary process that bruised feelings and raised eyebrows within the party, Rynders said he expects the Cleveland delegates to rally around the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

“I think what we can expect to see at the convention is a unified front around our nominee, which will offer a sharp contrast between the Republicans and Democrats,” Rynders said. “I also expect we will hear quite a bit about the presumptive Democratic nominee (Hillary Clinton) not being trustworthy.”

Rynders acknowledged the Trump campaign has been plagued by protests recently, but added that is no surprise.

“Every convention I have attended has had protests outside of the building,” Rynders said. “Do I expect to see more in Cleveland? I’m not sure. Do I expect the media to focus on what’s going on outside? Most definitely.”

After a near-riot broke out following a Trump rally last week in San Jose, Calif., Rynders said he expects increased security in Cleveland.

“In the past, I know delegate buses have had cinder blocks dropped on them from overpasses,” Rynders noted. “But if you have seen video from San Jose, you probably saw that most of those protesters didn’t look like your average hard-working Americans; they came across looking like militants, so security is always an issue.”

The Georgia Democratic Party will hold a committee meeting Saturday in Atlanta to complete its slate of at-large and alternate delegates.

The Democratic National Convention is set for July 25-29 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.