GOP convention unveils non-elected speakers who will help bolster Trump

Republicans will lean on a lineup of lesser-known speakers to drive home themes and narratives along with elected officials and former President Donald Trump at next week’s Republican National Convention.

The list of more than two-dozen “everyday American” speakers shared with NBC News includes a number of immigrants and Black Americans, part of Trump’s continued efforts to make inroads with groups that have leaned against Republicans. Many of the speakers will argue that President Joe Biden is responsible for challenges they have faced, including the impact of the fentanyl crisis, economic hardship and domestic divisions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Multiple speakers have a history of political activism and running for local or state office. The lineup also includes several former Democrats, some of whom voted for Biden in 2020. 

One speaker described in a convention announcement as a “lifelong Democrat” is business manager of Steamfitters Local 638A, Robert “Bobby” Bartles, Jr. He attended the former president’s recent New York City visit with construction workers.

Annette Albright, a former school employee in Charlotte, North Carolina, will also speak at the convention. A Facebook account bearing her name and likeness used to criticize Trump, especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the Capitol. The page labeled it “an attempt to overtake our democracy and it was [led] by the President of The United States.

But after a failed bid for her local school board in 2023, Albright in April 2024 posted a message on her campaign Facebook page critical of Democrats and of what she called “the Liberal White females that have strong armed” the organization, disavowing her previous loyalty to the Democratic Party. That same month, she spoke at an event held by the conservative Moms for Liberty group.

Immigration will be front and center at the convention across multiple speeches, including one by Michael Morin, the brother of Rachel Morin, who was killed while hiking last year. A man from El Salvador who entered the U.S. illegally was arrested last month and charged with murdering her. Trump has stayed in touch with the family and has cited Morin’s story in his speeches decrying Biden’s border policies.

Other immigration-focused speakers include Linda Fornos, a naturalized immigrant from Nicaragua and single mother living in Las Vegas. She plans on voting for Trump for the first time in November. Arizona rancher Jim Chilton, who owns a swath of property along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, is also speaking. He has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. 

Army veteran David Bellavia, another speaker, received the Medal of Honor from former Trump in 2019 and has a history of unsuccessful bids for Congress.

Weeks after Trump was found guilty in his New York hush money trial, one of the speakers will share their story about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against Trump. Madeline Brame, who has testified before Congress multiple times about violent crime in Manhattan, fiercely criticized Bragg’s handling of the case following the killing of her son, Army veteran Hason Correa.

And members of the predominantly Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will also make an appearance, after going viral for protecting an American flag during a pro-Palestinian campus protest. Shabbos “Alexander” Kestenbaum is also slated to speak. Kestenbaum and others filed a lawsuit in January against Harvard administrators alleging that the university had handled antisemitism with “deliberate indifference.” Kestenbaum also testified in front of Congress in May and is described in a convention press release as “a lifelong Democrat who will be voting for President Trump for the first time this year.”