Rep. Darin LaHood gives an insider look at the Republican National Convention

MILWAUKEE — I’m talking with Rep. Darin LaHood in front of Fiserv Forum, the second time on Wednesday I caught up with the Peoria Republican at the Republican National Convention. Our first chat was at the Illinois delegation breakfast at a suburban hotel where everyone is staying.

There’s a lot more going on at presidential nominating conventions than what you see on TV. The Republicans meeting here — and this will be true when the Democrats kick off their convention Aug. 19 in Chicago — have hundreds of ancillary events.

LaHood has a lot going on at the convention because he wears a lot of hats. He’s a vice chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee — a House GOP political organization — and a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and the Intelligence Committee.

I’m waiting to interview LaHood because he just ran into Rep. Michael Turner, the Ohio Republican who chairs the Intellligence Committee, which is launching a probe into the Secret Service's failure to prevent the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Then LaHood greets two folks hanging around to talk to him. They are wearing “guest” credentials giving them access to the convention, gained because of political donations. They work in government relations for an investment company.

There is a tremendous amount of fundraising-related activities going on at the convention for a variety of GOP organizations, with the credentials giving contributors and their pals access to “donor suites” in the forum where they can eat and drink and mingle with lawmakers. That is the sought-after “thank you” to donors. Same will go for Democrats in Chicago.

Two events, LaHood said, have shaped the “unity and cohesion and collaboration” marking the 2024 convention nominating former Trump and his vice presidential pick, freshman Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

The first is the attempted assassination Saturday of Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally — where he was dashed off the stage by Secret Service agents while raising a clenched fist and yelling, “Fight, fight, fight!” That chant would later fill the convention hall.

The second is President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump that weakened him so much that he has to fight to stay on the Democratic ticket. LaHood said that “gave renewed energy” to Republicans even before the shooting.

LaHood shared some of what he’s doing at the convention:

Lots of interviews about the shooting

“Serving on the House Intelligence Committee, being a former federal prosecutor, I’ve done an endless amount of interviews the last couple of days on what’s going to happen with the shooting that happened on Saturday. We have an obligation in Congress in our oversight responsibility to make sure what happened on Saturday never happens again, but more importantly, find out what went wrong, how we can fix it, how do we hold the Secret Service accountable. I was on a call with Speaker [Mike] Johnson on Sunday with other members of the Intelligence Committee” and “there will be a task force, an independent commission put together, hopefully bipartisan, that will be announced next week that will get to the bottom of this.”

LaHood’s Wednesday

  LaHood is staying with the delegation at a hotel near the airport. After the delegation breakfast, he spoke with students at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics event. Then he met with two reporters from Illinois that cover the Springfield area. After that, he spoke at an Illinois GOP lunch honoring him and two other House members from Illinois — Mike Bost and Mary Miller.

He then headed toward the arena and did an interview with CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju and afterward went to a nearby building housing “media row” (there will be one in Chicago) where he did five interviews, three for television and two for radio.

Later he turned his attention toward   donor events. One of the big attractions for lobbyists at conventions is the chance to talk to lawmakers. LaHood’s Wednesday schedule included a reception benefiting Speaker Johnson and the NRCC.

Raising political money and conventions, explained

A function of a convention is, LaHood said, using it as a “fundraising apparatus. I'm the former finance chair at the NRCC. We have to raise money for our candidates, and so this is a good opportunity to do that. … I will then go to a number of different, pre-convention events tonight.”

The upper floors of the forum have been turned into a variety of VIP lounges, underwritten by sponsors and open to donors so they can get face-time with people dealing with policies and laws impacting their industries at the state and federal levels. This will also happen at the United Center in Chicago.

When I poked around Saturday before security kicked in, I saw a lounge called the “House Cloakroom,” with its namesake in the Capitol.

Lynn Sweet/Sun-Times

LaHood explained, “there's a number of folks that pay to come to a convention. Some of those government relations people, some of those lobbyists, they want to have access to members of Congress. But there's a fundraising aspect to this too. People that want to contribute to the Republican Party, believe we're going to win in November. And so they've contributed to a number of events here, and so we'll meet with them, you know, to talk about specific issues, whether it ... falls within the Ways and Means Committee or other committees of jurisdiction. But I think there's a lot of interest on what is … going to be the legislative agenda, assuming that President Trump wins, we maintain the House and [win] the Senate.”

LaHood disputed my use of the term “pay to play” in talking to him about the convention and donors.

“I mean, the perception that somehow there's 'pay to play,' I think is very much a misnomer and is not accurate. There's lots of different people here that have access to senators and House members and government officials, people in the Trump administration, interacting, but I think it's also a reflection — people want to be on a winning team. So they want to be associated with the Republican Party. I think the reason why people want to attend this is I think they have a very — they think we have a very good shot of winning and they want to try to be influential.”