Meet 5 Republican Delegates Heading to the RNC in Cleveland

From longtime Trump supporters to more recent converts.

ByABC News
July 17, 2016, 8:24 AM
Quicken Loans Arena is decorated to welcome the Republican National Convention on July 11, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. The convention will be held at the arena July 18-21, 2016.
Quicken Loans Arena is decorated to welcome the Republican National Convention on July 11, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. The convention will be held at the arena July 18-21, 2016.
Angelo Merendino/Getty Images

— -- The breakdown of the delegates became a closely watched sport during the presidential primaries.

Now these delegates are heading to vote at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland which formally starts tomorrow.

Here is a closer look at some of the 2,472 delegates that will play roles in selecting the next Republican presidential candidate.

Katie Frost: Worked Closely With the Cruz Campaign

PHOTO: Katie Frost is seen here with Ted Cruz.
Katie Frost is seen here with Ted Cruz.

While Donald Trump has promised that this convention won't be as "extraordinarily boring" as the 2012 convention, he can't control everything.

Katie Frost is one of the delegates who is not pleased about Trump winning the nomination.

Frost, 24, was a travel aide for Cruz and traveled with the Cruz family in 13 states. For her, politics are personal. Her grandfather was a page at the 1968 Republican convention, and her other grandfather and father were delegates at the 1988 convention in New Orleans.

PHOTO: Katie Frost is seen here with Ted Cruz.
Katie Frost is seen here with Ted Cruz.

That convention was a particularly important one for her family, since that's where her dad took her mom out for their first date.

Frost, who is currently single, said that her mother isn't pushing her to repeat history.

"She's like 'Oh no, no, no! These national conventions ... I know what happens!'" Frost joked to ABC News.

This will be Frost's second convention trip, and she's expecting a far different tone both inside and outside the convention hall.

"I know there were some delegates who weren't thrilled about Mitt Romney four years ago but they were okay with it, [thinking] 'He's better than Obama,' but we've never in recent history seen such a large portion of the party having such a hard time, not willing to accept the nominee," Frost said.

"Normally delegates are cheerleaders. We're here to applaud and be excited about our nominee and get fired up, but a good portion of the delegates there will not be excited about Donald Trump as the nominee," she said.

She added: "I think you could potentially see tempers flare on the floor of the convention, depending on what happens with the rules committee."

Luke Elliott: Thinking About Bringing a Bat With Him

PHOTO: Luke Elliott is seen here with Marco Rubio.
Luke Elliott is seen here with Marco Rubio.

Another young delegate is preparing for possible violence.

Luke Elliott, 19, is a rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. This is his first trip to a convention and he thinks "there will be a lot of protesters."

As a result, he's thinking about bringing a baseball bat with him. "The security going into the convention [hall] will be top notch, but the issue is going to be when the delegates go back to their state hotels because there's not enough security for all 50 state delegations," Elliott told ABC News.

Elliott, a business major, got involved in politics this past year and started working with his school's chapter of College Republicans.

He supported Sen. Marco Rubio because, Elliott said, he saw the Florida Republican as having the best chance to grow the party. Elliott is still technically bound to Rubio for the first two ballots, due to state party rules, but he has turned into a reluctant Trump supporter.

PHOTO: Luke Elliott, left, is seen here with Donald Trump.
Luke Elliott, left, is seen here with Donald Trump.

"I cannot actively campaign for a man who has talked down to so many people, but unfortunately, I think he is a better option than Clinton even though he's a horrible man," Elliott said.

Part of his aversion to Trump is based on religious grounds. "As a Christian, I am shocked that so many good Christians that I know have voted for a man that said that he has never asked for forgiveness from God," Elliott said, referencing comments made during an event in Iowa in July 2015.

Alex Triantafilou: Home State Supporter

PHOTO: Alex Triantafilou is seen here.
Alex Triantafilou is seen here.

Alex Triantafilou is a "life-long Ohioan" and has had a stake in the convention well before the presumptive nominee was picked.

Triantafilou, 45, is the Hamilton County GOP chairman and helped lead the effort to have his hometown of Cincinnati host the convention. He told ABC News that "if it couldn't be Cincinnati," Cleveland is the next best substitute.

In keeping with the home-state theme, Triantafilou supported Gov. John Kasich and is technically bound to Kasich. But his allegiance stands with Trump now.

PHOTO: Alex Triantafilou, right, is seen here with Rick Santorum.
Alex Triantafilou, right, is seen here with Rick Santorum.

"We've been openly supporting Donald Trump since he became the presumptive nominee," he said of the Hamilton County GOP.

This will be Triantafilou's fourth convention. "Overall I'm excited to see what this convention is going to be like ... I suspect that Donald Trump will put his own unique mark on the convention," he said.

He's looking forward to brushing shoulders with NASCAR drivers and country singers. "The Democrats -- they get all the cool celebrities!" he joked.

Alyssa Selogie: A Trump Supporter Excited About Sporting Patriotic Shoes

PHOTO: Alyssa Selogie is seen here.
Alyssa Selogie is seen here.

Alyssa Selogie is taking the saying "voting with your feet" very seriously. The 30-year-old digital marketing consultant has a passion for shoes -- and conservatism.

Selogie has a “patriotic” shoe collection that includes American flag-themed heels as well as Second Amendment heels that she plans to bring to Cleveland with her.

PHOTO: Alyssa Selogie's shoes are seen here.
Alyssa Selogie's shoes are seen here.

“I decoupaged over a majority of the shoe and then I crafted basically a pistol as the heel,” she told ABC News.

Though this is Selogie’s first time being elected as a delegate, that’s not for a lack of trying: She supported Rick Perry in 2012 but her bid to be a delegate ended when Perry suspended his campaign.

PHOTO: Alyssa Selogie's shoes are seen here.
Alyssa Selogie's shoes are seen here.

This time around, “I just found myself aligned with him on more and more issues,” she said of Trump.

Selogie is looking forward to wearing her shoes in a way that she can’t necessarily do at home.

“I do live in downtown LA, which is a heavily Democratic district, so I wouldn’t walk around wearing my Trump hat,” she said.

Kelly Yaede: A Concerned Mayor Looking to the Future

PHOTO: Kelly A. Yaede mayor of Hamilton Township.
Kelly A. Yaede mayor of Hamilton Township.

For Kelly Yaede, the mayor of Hamilton, New Jersey, this election is one that will determine the path of our country for generations to come.

“Every decision I make as mayor, I take into account how I want to leave our town for future generations and I truly believe Donald Trump is cognizant of how the United States should be left for future generations,” she said.

Yaede, 47, admits that she doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with Trump but feels that “no one can say they agree with an elected official on everything.”

"When Donald Trump first came into the race, at first you think, 'This is going to be interesting,'" she told ABC News.

As the campaign continued, "I started to realize that he was touching into a sentiment that was being felt across the country," she explained.

In May, Yaede spoke in support of Trump at a rally billed as a fundraiser for Trump-surrogate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

That was the only formal event at which she has spoken in support of Trump, and while she is believes that he can win, there is a specific image she hopes he will portray at the convention.

"I want to see Donald Trump be a statesman," she said. "We need the leader. We need level-headed dialogue on the issues. Americans need to see it."

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