“Honestly, I wish Trump could just be king forever and pass it down to the next one and then eventually Barron [Trump]. I don’t believe in having kings, but if we could, I think he’s done a lot, and I think he speaks out,” said Leighton-Floyd, of Kansas City, Missouri. “I think he’s probably priming JD Vance, because I’ve noticed that he’s getting more outward-spoken about things and not holding it in.”

Granger, like many of the younger voters at the conference, was less sure about her candidate than the quality she seeks in a Republican nominee.

“Whoever’s for America — if they’re for America, if they are for the people and for our rights and keeping our rights established and not taking anything from us,” she said of the kind of candidate she wants, adding that Vance falls into that category.