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UPDATE (May 11, 2024, 9:04 a.m. ET): Two days after news broke that he would serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention, Barron Trump declined the role through a statement from his mother. “While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines due to prior commitments,” Melania Trump said.
Barron Trump, who has long been shielded from the public eye, will make his political debut, so to speak, under the glaring national spotlight at the Republican National Convention in July.
The youngest Trump child was chosen as an at-large delegate by the Florida Republican Party on Wednesday, NBC News first reported. It will be his first political event — and his first public event — since turning 18 in March, having appeared silently by his father's side at previous events.
The Florida delegation at this year's nominating convention in Milwaukee will be over-represented by the Trump family. Others named as delegates include Donald Trump Jr., his fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, Eric Trump, Tiffany Boulos (née Trump) and her husband, Michael Boulos. Also on the list are prominent Trump allies like Pam Bondi and Sergio Gor.
The 18-year-old Trump featured as a point of contention in his father’s hush money criminal trial last month. Donald Trump falsely accused Judge Juan Merchan of barring the former president from attending his son’s high school graduation on May 17. Merchan ultimately decided to adjourn court on that day, but it looks like Trump might forgo his son’s graduation ceremony for a campaign event in Minnesota anyway.
As with much else in Trumpian politics, it's not typical for a candidate's family to be so entwined with the party. In Barron's case, it's unusual for presidential children to be recruited into politics at such a young age, although certainly it's not unprecedented for former presidents' children to follow their parents into national politics.
Donald Trump's dominance in Florida politics, a state he swept in 2016 and 2020, faced an early threat from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was seen as a potentially formidable primary candidate. But that threat dissipated quickly; despite his attacks on Trump, DeSantis' campaign failed to take off in any significant way, and he dropped out before the first Republican primary. Since then, he has made nice with the presumptive GOP nominee and said that he plans to fundraise on his behalf.