One delegate talks about 2016 GOP convention and indecision over Trump
CLEVELAND -- A few weeks before the Republican National Convention, Pennsylvania delegate Mary Ann Meloy thought she might not vote at all for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Meloy, 77, was one of 54 delegates elected in Pennsylvania in April who were uncommitted to a particular candidate. Originally, she supported Sen. Marco Rubio's, R-Florida, White House bid and her status switched to unpledged once he dropped out of the primary race in March.
A day into the convention in Cleveland, she told CBS News that she ultimately decided to vote to nominate Trump. It wasn't an easy decision for her. She lives with her daughter, who became disabled after an accident when she was college, and she grew up with a sister who has cerebral palsy.
Meloy said she was especially put off by Trump's mockery of Serge Kovaleski, a reporter for The New York Times who has arthrogryposis, which limits the functioning of his joints.
"To see anyone in the civilized world make fun of or mock somebody who has a disability...that man isn't even disabled. He's an outstanding reporter," she told CBS News a few weeks before the convention. "How do you mock someone like that? You actually degrade yourself when do you something so foolish and stupid."
But while she said she vehemently disagreed with Trump when that happened, she still thought that he was "a million times better than Hillary."
Meloy said last week that she wouldn't make a decision until she was in Cleveland.
"I still think I'll make the decision at the convention," she said at the time. "There's always another option and that's just not voting. It's the coward's way, but you know, it is an option."
She has been involved in politics for nearly 50 years, first volunteering for Richard Nixon's presidential campaign at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami. Meloy went on to work for President Ronald Reagan as the deputy director of the Public Liaison office at the White House.
Late last week, Meloy had a change of heart and decided it was time to support Trump.
"I made up my mind that I will support him as our nominee because number one, Hillary Clinton just cannot be president of the United States. She'll destroy or attempt to destroy major portions of the Constitution," she said. "When you weigh the constitutional issues that I know [Trump] will put forth -- and he will be a conservative in supporting -- then I just have to go with him."
The 2016 convention is her second time serving as a delegate, with her first delegate experience in 2012 when Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination. This week, Meloy said she attended the usual Pennsylvania breakfast meetings and listened to speakers, but she said that there are some differences this time around.
"It used to be that after the breakfast, the delegation, we would have a caucus of what the events of the day would be and discuss the feelings of the delegation," she said. "We don't even do that anymore."
She blames that on the "centralization and the power of the party within the Beltway," which, has resulted in a certain neglect of the delegates. Meloy said that party officials in Washington have not paid attention to the level of anger among GOP voters across the country.
"I think this whole process of delegates has been denigrated. Everything's already done when we arrive. Delegates are treated as necessary evils by the national party."
Meloy is now partially retired. In addition to caring for her daughter, she said she occasionally does some consulting work and stays active in her local Republican Party and state politics.
After a long career in politics, she says this election is unique.
"It is different than anything I have ever seen," she said, adding that she could only compare it with the effort to draft Barry Goldwater by young Republicans in 1964.
"That doesn't even come close," she said. "Donald Trump was like a firecracker going off within the same old Republican Party."