Franklin County delegate joined attempt to derail Trump

Hours after the first gavel came down signaling the start of the Republican National Convention, anti-Trump delegates began calling for a vote that would allow them to derail the New York businessman’s path to the nomination.

“Roll call vote! Roll call vote!” they chanted.

One of the voices shouting in the crowd was Tri-City’s own Franklin County delegate, Brenda High, who was there Monday night with the Washington delegation.

High, a writer who lives in Pasco, has been involved with the Republican Party since 1980 and serves as a state committeewoman for Franklin County.

Her first time at any national convention was in 2012, when she served as an alternate with the Washington delegation in Tampa, Fla. Before that, she worked on former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s campaign when she lived in Arizona.

When High met Brewer on Monday afternoon on the convention floor, the former governor almost immediately remembered her.

“I’d say the majority of people are like me, really conservative,” High said of the state delegation.

“The Republican organization is very based on First Amendment, Second Amendment rights, Tenth Amendment, states’ rights,” she said. “So you know, it seems a little out of place that Donald Trump would do so well.”

In addition to Trump’s various policy positions, Brenda says she has other good reasons to be skeptical.

She lost one of her sons to suicide from bullying, and she said that “bully” aspect of Trump’s persona makes her very uncomfortable.

In terms of support for different candidate,s the Washington delegation comes from a variety of backgrounds, primarily because of the crowded nature of the GOP primary field this year.

Many of them have come on board with Trump, but others still have not, even though there are no alternatives left standing.

“I want people, anybody that looks around, to see that not everybody likes this,” High said. “I want the media to look around and see.”

“I’m worried about where our country is going, and we’re basically being taken over by Trump’s people,” she added. “I feel like our country is on the edge as it is, let alone (how it would be with) someone who is unqualified to be president.”

A bullying expert, High pointed out how bully tactics usually make a person popular, but do not make what they do “right.”

“The president should be a person who is somewhat temperamentally … tempered,” she said. “The people who like him, like him for exactly that reason, that he’s not tempered, but that is precisely what is so dangerous about him.”

However, when asked if she would ultimately vote for Trump, she said, “I’ll do it. I’ll hold my nose and do it. It may be the last thing I ever do as a Republican, but I’m not going to vote for Gary Johnson, and I’m certainly not going to vote for (Hillary) Clinton.”

Reiterating how it’s the last thing she might do as a Republican, High said, “I’m not sure if I could live with myself having made that choice. It’s not just about this party, I really care about this country.”

Rishi Solanki is a third-year student at Case Western Reserve University working with The McClatchy Company to cover the Republican National Convention for the Tri-City Herald.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "Franklin County delegate joined attempt to derail Trump."