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The Republican National Convention had at least four Stanly County residents in attendance this week.
Zach Almond and Joseph Burleson served as delegates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with N.C. Rep. Wayne Sasser attending as an alternate delegate. A.J. Barringer was in attendance as part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Office, helping with security.

The convention was nothing new to the delegates from Stanly, as both Almond and Burleson were both in Cleveland in 2016.

“It’s been truly a great experience and I will say, compared to like 2016, just the energy, I was on the floor in 2016 — of course, 2020 with COVID we didn’t have it — the energy is certainly probably 10 times, it feels like, more than what it was in ‘16,” Burleson said on Thursday afternoon, prior to former President Donald Trump formally accepting the Republican nomination. “It’s a lot of energy here. Folks are very excited. They’re ready to get to November and win this election.”
Almond agreed, saying the “energy here is next level.”
“Last Saturday’s assassination attempt has emboldened an already lively crowd,” he said. “Milwaukee has been a great venue for the convention, strikingly similar to Cleveland in 2016. It’s clearly a significant economic boost to Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole. I couldn’t help but think it’s a shame North Carolina didn’t get to reap those same economic benefits for the 2020 convention in Charlotte given it didn’t play out to its full potential.”