GREEN BAY, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – The Republican Party of Wisconsin held an in-person state convention in Green Bay over the weekend to fire up its base ahead of November.

There was a recurring theme at Saturday's convention—not tearing the country apart. Race relations and support for police took center stage as several speakers talked about what has been happening around Wisconsin and the nation.
 

Convention chairperson Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Green Bay) put the focus on current events from the outset.

“But I can't help but think, looking at what's been going on around the country, that Reagan would be rolling in his grave,” Rep. Gallagher said. “In the midst of a pandemic unleashed by a different Communist adversary that has taken over a half a million lives worldwide and 40 million jobs in America, we have seen violent mobs take to our streets in order to erase our history.”

Recently elected Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Minocqua) told delegates violent unrest shows why the party needs to focus on a more perfect union.
 

“You look at people out in Seattle right now, they want to secede,” Rep. Tiffany said. “They're the modern-day secessionists going back to 1860 that tried to tear this country apart. That is not the route Americans want to go.”

Though defunding police is off the table for most Republicans, that doesn't necessarily mean the conversation is over.

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Andrew Hitt said this time around, no voters are being taken for granted no matter where they live.

“We have a lot to talk about on issues that the Black and the Hispanic community care about and this year we are actually having those discussions,” Hitt said. “For the first time ever, if you can believe it, for the first time ever in the history of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, we opened up an office in the central city of Milwaukee.”

The move is the latest in an effort to appeal to Black voters—something Republicans are focusing on not just in Wisconsin but nationally as well.
 

“There is no other champion for freedom, for equality, than in the Republican Party,” Katrina Pierson, a Trump 2020 Senior Adviser, said. “We have the moral authority to stand strong and fight back, and that is why the Black Voices for Trump coalition will be taking on Black Lives Matter.”

Black Voices for Trump will do that by hosting hundreds of events all across the country to highlight what the president is doing for minority voters.