NASHVILLE - Tennessee delegates to the Republican National Convention say they are counting on expected presidential nominee Donald Trump to bring the fractured party together.
The four-day event gets underway today in Cleveland, Ohio.
"Trump needs to unify the party and the selection of Gov. [Mike] Pence helps move the party in that direction," said former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, a Marco Rubio alternate delegate. Trump announced the selection of Pence, Indiana's governor and a staunch conservative and former congressman, as his running mate last week.
Ashe, who sat on the convention's Platform Committee, acknowledged "there are concerns" with Trump and said "he must comport himself in a way to make it easy for Republicans to come together, as most will."
Delegates from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama began streaming into Cleveland over the weekend. Trump carried all three states in the March 1 primary.
The nomination of the brash billionaire who shredded the modern-era campaign rule book is expected Thursday.
A "Never Trump" movement is expected to fizzle at the convention, several attendees said.
"I think when it's all said and done most all Republicans will be getting behind Donald Trump," said Chris Devaney of Lookout Mountain, a Ted Cruz delegate and former Tennessee Republican Party chairman who once worked for U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. "This is the most unusual presidential nominating process I have ever seen."
Trump considered Corker, among others, as a running mate, but the former Chattanooga mayor took himself out of consideration, saying he didn't feel suited for the role and could better serve elsewhere.
Corker also won't be speaking at the convention, saying that's not his skill set either. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee, will speak, nabbing the normally coveted Thursday-night slot when Trump's nomination comes before the convention.
Alabama U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of Trump's first congressional backers, has a speaking role, as does former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
The Tennessean quoted state Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, a Trump delegate, as being confident the convention will bring Republicans together.
"That will go a long ways toward healing the party at the national and state level," said Beavers.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who supported Rubio in the primary, has yet to endorse Trump and has criticized some of the expected nominee's comments.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who also backed Rubio and twice ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination himself, has said he will support the party's nominee when the convention acts.
Haslam and the senators are hosting a brunch for Tennessee delegates today. Others expected to attend include U.S. Reps. Scott DesJarlais, an early Trump supporter, and Chuck Fleischmann.
One of Trump's Tennessee delegates, M. David Riden of McMinn County, generated headlines in June. The East Tennessean was also a delegate to a "Continental Congress of 2009" that advocated, among other things, replacing the Department of Homeland Security with citizen militias.
He told Mother Jones Magazine that American leaders who violate the U.S. Constitution may have to be done away with. "The polite word is 'eliminated,'" the magazine quoted Riden saying. "The harsh word is 'killed.'"
Oscar Brock of Lookout Mountain, a Rubio alternate delegate, said he believes the convention "will go quite smoothly," then quickly added, "I'm hoping it will. There's still some raw feeling, I think, and it's going to take some healing. I think a little patience, a little time will bring us back together."
A number of Tennessee Republicans will not be present. Among them is Brock's father, former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock, a former national Republican Party chairman who now lives in Maryland.
"It's a lot of effort to be here and his knees aren't what they used to be. That's pretty tough," the younger Brock said of his 85-year-old father, who helped forge Tennessee's modern conservative Republican movement during the 1960s.
Asked if that was a comment on how his father feels about Trump, Brock said, "Not that he's shared with me. But I can't speak for him."
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.