By Kasim Ileri
Cleveland, OHIO (AA): Donald Trump officially became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee on Tuesday after a roll call vote on the second day of convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
The billionaire reached the threshold of 1,237 delegates early evening after a change in rule allowing his home state New York to cast its vote out of alphabetical order.
His son Donald Trump Jr. cast the votes that clinched Trump’s nomination.
“It is my honor to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegate count tonight,” Trump Jr. said. “Congratulations, Dad, we love you!”
Trump won with 1,725 delegates, followed by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 475 delegates, Ohio Governor John Kasich with 120 and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida with 114.
House Speaker Paul Ryan confirmed the tally after all of the states had been heard.
Trump declared his victory over Twitter tweeting: “Such a great honor to be the Republican Nominee for President of the United States. I will work hard and never let you down! AMERICA FIRST!”
Shortly afterwards he addressed the Convention at Quicken Loans Arena via a video message.
“This is a movement … but we have to go all the way,” he said.
The real estate mogul promised to win the election in November, create more jobs, strengthen the military, and safeguard U.S. borders.
He also pledged to “restore law and order” in the country, a discourse he adopted following the shooting of police officers by a former Army veteran in Dallas, Texas during protests against the shooting deaths of two black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this month.
Trump will accept nomination in person on Thursday.
Despite threats by anti-Trump groups at the convention to disrupt proceedings, protests were few and largely kept under control.
The biggest disruption came at the end when Alaska’s delegation challenged their tally.
They originally requested 12 votes go to Cruz, 11 to Trump and 5 to Rubio, but the convention recorded all 28 votes to Trump.
After some deliberation, Republican leaders delivered the final count saying that they had count that way because Cruz and Rubio stepped out of the race.
In another unusual moment, the presiding officer awarded all of Washington, D.C.’s delegates to Trump, even though the delegation announced them going to Rubio and Kasich.
Shortly after Trump’s nomination was confirmed, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was named the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.
On the second night, speaker included senior establishment Republicans that gave signals of party unity following controversies against Trump during primaries.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the audience, along with former Trump rivals and now-allies Dr. Ben Carson and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
“Democracy is a series of choices. We Republicans have made our choice,” Ryan said calling for unity of the party behind Trump.
Taking on Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, Ryan characterized the Democratic Convention as “progressive elitists” who would tell the American people how President Barack Obama years was good for the country.
“We know better than to think that Republicans can win only on the failures of Democrats,” he underscored noting the Obama administration was disappointing for the country because the president strategy is based on words rather than actions.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell also harped on Clinton at the top of his speech.
“Fortunately there’s a clear choice before us, and it’s not Hillary. You know what the next four years will look like with Hillary, and you know if Hillary is president we’ll continue to slide, distracted by the scandals that follow the Clinton’s like flies,” he said.
The convention will end on Thursday.
[Photo: A Trump supporter holds up a Trump flag during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, USA on July 18, 2016. Photographer: Samuel Corum/AA]
