--- title: Republican Convention: Security Fears Heard by GOP Officials description: Facing threats of violence in Cleveland, Republican Party leaders are working to address concerns about the national convention. canonical: https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-21T16:29:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:00.639Z article:section: Politics og:title: Officials Raise Questions About Security at GOP Convention og:description: Some state party chairs have been threatened already. og:url: https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f9dea727a273880/69889036e20a870536a90889/republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: A U.S. secret service agent stands at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Officials Raise Questions About Security at GOP Convention twitter:description: Some state party chairs have been threatened already. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f9dea727a273880/69889036e20a870536a90889/republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Delegates Raise Questions About Security at Republican Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch a Trump Rally at Almost 1000 Frames Per Second [Watch (HLS stream): Watch a Trump Rally at Almost 1000 Frames Per Second](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rxeiXBfO.m3u8) (1:46)  _Published 2016-02-22. This video captures a Trump Rally in super slow motion._ by [Zeke J MIller / Hollywood, Florida](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J MIller / Hollywood, Florida Apr 21, 2016 4:29 PM UTC  A U.S. secret service agent stands at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. A U.S. secret service agent stands at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Zeke J MIller / Hollywood, Florida](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J MIller / Hollywood, Florida Apr 21, 2016 4:29 PM UTC Facing threats of mischief and even violence in Cleveland, Republican Party leaders are working to address the concerns of delegates and state leaders to the July national convention. With the prospect of the first contested convention in 40 years, passionate backers of front-runner Donald Trump have promised to raise hell should anti-Trump efforts succeed in blocking him from the nomination. At a meeting Wednesday of state party chairmen and top Republican National Committee officials, multiple attendees raised concerns about the safety and wellbeing of their delegations—some of whom are already the subjects of alleged threats and intimidation efforts. “One chairman said, my delegates are getting calls at home, their families are being threatened,” said another chairman in the room. “We want to know what they’re going to do about it.” Several of the chairs present shared stories of threats. Colorado GOP Chairman Steve House, who presided over a tumultuous convention in which Cruz-backers secured his state’s delegation earlier this month has [faced death threats](http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/colorado-gop-chairman-steve-house-is-getting-threats-from-donald-trump-supporters), while in Indiana, where leaders selected delegates in advance of the primary next month, officials have been harassed online and by phone. GOP officials said they were sensitive to those concerns. In the meeting, they highlighted the role of Secret Service in protecting the convention as a National Special Security Event, while promising to increase their private security as well as step up efforts to reassure skittish delegates of their safety. According to RNC officials, every delegation hotel will have a security presence, and the committee urged state party leaders to tell their delegates to contact law enforcement in the event they receive threats. “We’re going to try to reassure folks that we’re going to have an orderly, safe convention in Cleveland that’s transparent and people aren’t going to have to come worried about whether they get punched in the face,” said Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges, who is involved with the host committee. Last month Trump told CNN that if he is denied the nomination at the convention, “I think you’d have riots.” Former Donald Trump advisor and Nixon dirty trickster Roger Stone has organized a group called “[Stop the Steal](http://stopthesteal.org/)” to bring thousands of Trump supporters to Cleveland during convention week to make their displeasure known directly to delegates. “We must express our rage over the hijacking of democracy. We must dominate Cleveland,” the group’s website states. Stone has also suggested he would distribute hotel and personal information about convention delegates who may abandon Trump should the nominating fight head to multiple ballots. “Inciting a riot, menacing someone, threatening them is a crime,” Borges said, repeating a message he delivered in the room. ” If someone is openly, publicly threatening to commit a crime in Cleveland, I think there are local law enforcement and state law enforcement officials that are going to look seriously at that.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/"},"headline":"Delegates Raise Questions About Security at Republican Convention","datePublished":"2016-04-21T16:29:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:00.639Z","description":"One pro-Trump group has said it will publicize hotel room numbers of delegates","url":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","Republican National Committee","ted cruz","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f9dea727a273880/69889036e20a870536a90889/republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke J MIller / Hollywood, Florida"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f9dea727a273880/69889036e20a870536a90889/republican-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A U.S. secret service agent stands at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.","caption":"A U.S. secret service agent stands at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/","name":"Delegates Raise Questions About Security at Republican Convention"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch a Trump Rally at Almost 1000 Frames Per Second","description":"This video captures a Trump Rally in super slow motion.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rxeiXBfO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-22T23:23:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rxeiXBfO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/","duration":"PT1M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4303294/republican-convention-safety-security/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```