An early Trump backer, NC senator helps develop GOP platform

State Sen. Ronald Rabin was one of the first North Carolina elected officials to endorse Donald Trump. Now he’ll vote for the billionaire’s nomination as a delegate.

Rabin is a two-term senator representing Harnett, Lee and parts of Johnston counties. His wife, Mona, will also be in Cleveland as an alternate delegate supporting Trump.

“I supported him because when I looked at the contestants and the whole situation, I just decided that even with some of the rough edges he might have, he was the best person to get us out of the malaise,” the senator said, referring to economic and national security problems. “Someone has to stop it and turn it around.”

Rabin said he views serving as a delegate as part of his work as a legislator. “I thought that part of the responsibility that I have as a state senator was to be as involved as I could in representing my district at the national level,” he said.

Rabin has already been busy with convention work as co-chairman of the party’s national security and defense platform subcommittee. He was picked for the job because he’s a retired colonel who spent 24 years in the Army, including two tours of duty in Vietnam.

Rabin said he’s pleased with the platform committee’s work, which includes Trump’s call for a wall along the Mexican border. The platform is to be formally adopted during the convention.

“I think we came out of it with a good solid way to get us back on track as the superpower, back on track to where we get the respect of the world back,” he said.

Rabin said the platform committee avoided social issues. Some had sought to include language condemning the Islamic State’s targeting of LGBT people.

“As the party of Lincoln, we are absolutely convinced that we should include everybody” instead of singling out certain groups, Rabin said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "An early Trump backer, NC senator helps develop GOP platform."