Local man to attend GOP Convention

When the historic Republican National Convention unfolds next month in Milwaukee, a local man will be right there in the thick of things.

A.J. Daoud, a Pilot Mountain businessman, has been picked as a delegate for the event scheduled from July 15-18.

The main item on the agenda then will be the official nomination of someone to be on the Republican ticket for president, presumably Donald Trump, the nation’s former chief executive.

“I will be the only person from Surry County at the National Convention in Milwaukee,” Daoud said.

The owner of Cox-Needham Funeral Home in Pilot Mountain and eight funeral homes in three states altogether, Daoud has become a fixture in Republican Party circles over the years.

And he is no stranger to GOP national conventions, being picked as an alternate delegate in 2016 and a regular voting delegate for the event in 2020, which ended up being cancelled because of COVID-19.

“It’s just high-energy,” Daoud said of the atmosphere at such conventions, with the one next month expected to be attended by about 3,000 people from around the country.

This will include 72 delegates from North Carolina.

“There are two paths to being a delegate,” Daoud explained.

This can include one’s election by members of the area 5th Congressional District of North Carolina at their convention, which was held in Wilkesboro.

Aside from being chosen as a delegate on the district level, someone can be picked on an at-large basis during the state GOP convention where representatives from all 100 counties vote.

“I was selected by the body as a whole with U.S. Senator Ted Budd, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, Speaker of the North Carolina House Tim Moore and Congressman Dan Bishop,” the local man reported.

“It’s just a high honor,” he said regarding being picked as a delegate, which acknowledges Daoud’s dedication to politics over the years.

He is a former Republican Party chairman of the 6th Congressional District in addition to holding a Cabinet post at the state GOP level and serving as finance chairman of the 5th and 10th districts.

Daoud’s other roles include that of former North Carolina Lottery chairman.

To hear him talk, attending the Republican National Convention never gets old.

“It’s incredible,” Daoud said, referring to “the excitement of the moment.”

Standing out among his previous convention memories are the heavy news media presence there along with security personnel, and the different speakers who addressed the crowd.

“It was just cool,” Daoud said.