Delegates say Trump speech hit target

That’s the consensus of Republican National Committee delegates who said their GOP nominee gave the kind of address they have been waiting to hear.

“He hit on a lot of the things that concern everybody here, the economy the deficit, talking about our safety and immigration reform,” Missouri delegate Derrick Good told the Washington Examiner. “He hit on everything he needed to.”

Trump gave the longest prepared speech of his candidacy and rarely strayed off script. Instead, he adhered to a speech that zeroed in on issues that have been top priorities for Republicans, such as trade, immigration reform, health care and national security.

“I think he did what he needed to do, he said what needed to be said and he kicked of his campaign quite nicely,” Iowa delegate Wes Enos said. “It helps me understand his priorities. I think we are all Trump supporters today.”

Trump’s address helped bridge the divide with delegates at the convention who have refused to pledge their support, many of them in the Texas and Colorado delegations.

“I have to figure out if I’m actually going to support Donald Trump or not,” Texas delegate Jared Atkinson told the Examiner. “His speech was really good. He really said a lot of great things. It’s great if he will actually do it, follow through. And we don’t know and that is the frustrating thing.”

Trump delivered the closing speech of a particularly divisive convention. A significant faction of delegates backed other candidates, including Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, who refused to endorse Trump in his prime time RNC speech.

Randy Corporon, a Cruz supporter, said the speech was “a good start” toward bringing in the support of the anti-Trump wing of the party.

“We’ll see how that translates back out into the world and reaching out to some of the people who are still resistant,” he added. “We’ll see how he supports his lofty ideas with actual policies.”

Texas delegate Ken Cope said the address took a step toward uniting the party.

“He hit on the things that were so important it wasn’t all the petty differences in the campaigns,” Cope said.

“It was about what is good for America that the individual citizens, what they can see, with each of the different areas that are important of them. They can see the contrast between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. He knocked it out of the park.”

Cope said Trump gave a substantive speech.

“Look how much time it took for him to deliver it,” Cope said. “He got into more specifics than ever before.”

North Carolina delegate Clay McCreary was especially pleased to hear Trump’s support for cops and strict constitutionalists for his court picks. “Those were the big things for me,” he said.

Utah delegate Greg Hughes said the speech was “this candidate’s finest hour,” and hit all the important issues.

“I thought that speech was substantive,” Hughes said. “It was heartfelt. It was authentic. And I think, not only did he speak to this convention, but he spoke to all of the American people in a way I don’t think you’ve seen very often in conventions like this.”

Al Weaver and Paul Bedard contributed to this report