CLEVELAND – One thousand seven hundred twenty-five delegates officially chose Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president Tuesday.
“Its my honor to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegate count tonight with 89 delegates,” Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. said when reporting the New York delegate count that confirmed the nomination for his father. “Congratulations, Dad. We love you.”
Delegates who tried to block a Trump nomination – called the Never Trump movement – did not make any last minute efforts to avoid a nomination of the businessman, though District of Columbia did report their 19 delegates as 10 for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and 9 for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, despite their delegates being bound to be cast to Trump.
Alaska also asked that their tally be changed and recounted with one less vote for Trump before announcing the official results.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was also officially nominated as the vice presidential candidate. Lt. Gov. and possible replacement for Gov. Pence as the Republican nominee for governor Eric Holcomb put Pence’s name into nomination.
Pence will deliver his speech at Wednesday night’s session of the convention.
Results for other top Republican candidates included 475 delegates for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 120 for Kasich and 112 for Rubio.
Speakers at Tuesday’s session themed “Make America Work Again” included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former Republican primary candidate and former contender for Trump's vice presidential choice.
Christie gave a fiery speech against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“She fights for the wrong people," Christie said. "She doesn’t fight for us.”
Christie also criticized various Clinton policies such as the nuclear negotiations with Iran and her handling of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi.
Dr. Ben Carson, another former Republican candidate, Trump’s children Tiffany and Donald Trump, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also spoke Tuesday.
Wednesday's session is to begin at 7 p.m., with Gov. Pence is the headlining speaker.
