Democrats find a Republican they can cheer for

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The Latest on the Democratic National Convention and 2016 presidential campaign. (all times EDT):

8:50 p.m.

Doug Elmets is a Republican who Democrats can cheer for.

Elmets – who worked in the Reagan White House – earned a roar from the crowd at the Democratic convention Thursday night when he took the stage and said he was backing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Elmets says Clinton will be the first Democrat to get his vote – and he’s blaming Donald Trump for driving him away from the Republican Party.

He’s borrowing a line from the late Lloyd Bentsen – the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1988 – to tweak Trump for likening himself to Reagan.

Elmets says: “I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan!

8:25 p.m.

They held a political convention and the governor of the host state actually came. And spoke.

That was Tom Wolf on the stage Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, and he was taking shots at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Wolf’s presence in the convention hall is a reminder that Republicans couldn’t feature a home-state governor at their convention in Cleveland last week.

That’s because Ohio Republican John Kasich is a former Trump primary rival and sharp critic. Kasich steered clear of the GOP convention

Wolf says, unlike Trump, Hillary Clinton will “reward companies that share profits with their employees.”

8:20 p.m.

Chants of “lock her up” are going up at a Mike Pence rally in suburban Detroit.

It’s the most raucous scene the GOP vice presidential nominee has faced since going out as a solo campaigner as Donald Trump’s running mate.

At times, Pence had to wait for the crowd’s jeers of Democrat Hillary Clinton or chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” to die down.

They cheered when Pence criticized Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi attacks in Libya and when Pence praised Trump’s call to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

One of the biggest applause lines came when Pence said: “Hillary Clinton must never become president of the United States.”

8:10 p.m.

Democrats are targeting Donald Trump in their convention speeches, and the Republican presidential nominee is getting tired of it.

He says he wanted to “hit” some of them “so hard their heads would spin.”

Trump isn’t identifying any of them. But he tells a crowd in Iowa that one certain speaker – Trump describes him as “a little guy” who he used to work with – particularly bothered him.

Might that be former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg? He had some dealings with Trump – a New York real estate developer – as the city’s leader.

By the way, Bloomberg is listed as 5-foot-8 inches.

Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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