Adam Rodewald

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

GREEN BAY - Concerns about a Donald Trump presidential candidacy were cast aside as Republican state leaders urged voters to coalesce around other legislative and congressional candidates.

The controversial presumptive nominee was mentioned only briefly by some speakers at the Republican Party of Wisconsin state convention Saturday. Speakers instead called on party members to unify around U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and the conservative agenda of state lawmakers.

The message made Trump littler more than “an afterthought”, Milwaukee Delegate Devin Gatton said of the event at the KI Convention Center, where Attorney General Brad Schimel announced his intention to run for re-election in 2018 and the party endorsed Johnson, a plastics-manufacturer from Oshkosh, for a second term in the U.S. Senate.

Gatton said the takeaway from the day was that “unity in Wisconsin doesn’t equate to unity on a national ticket.”

“People like me, even though we dislike Trump … we’re still going to fight to get those (state candidates) elected that we need to,” Gatton said.

Convincing voters to remain interested in other down-ticket elections is crucial for Republicans, said state Rep. John Macco, R-De Pere, in an interview. Macco is up for re-election this fall.

“Even if there’s nobody at the top of the ticket in the presidential election that they could identify with, I understand the desire to pass on it, but … they still have to look at all of those down-ticket races because those will impact their life more than anything on the presidential ticket,” Macco said.

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch called on Republicans to unify around their “conservative heart.”

“This November, we have a tremendous opportunity. We can show our conservative hearts to the nation, and from our corner of the world, we can change it, because in Wisconsin that is what we’re capable of,” Kleefisch said.

Only two speakers at the convention, congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner and Sean Duffy, explicitly named Trump when calling for the party to support him.

“We’re going to continue to make America great again, and we’re going to make America great again with Donald Trump,” Duffy said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, of Janesville, said he believes Republicans are on pace for "real party unity" but it will take more time to get there. He would not put a timeline on how long it would take, but said he was encouraged by early talks between himself and Trump.

"It is no secret that Donald trump and I have had some disagreements. … The question is, can we have a process that really gets the party unified so we can be at full strength in the fall, and judging by the meetings we had on Thursday, I’m encouraged with the beginning of this process," Ryan said while speaking with reporters before delivering a keynote speech at a convention dinner. The speech was not open to reporters.

No state lawmakers speaking at the convention mentioned Trump by name.

Marshfield delegate Joe Humphrey said he believes many state Republicans who supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas are “getting over bruises” since their preferred candidate dropped out of the race earlier this month.

“There’s plenty of time between now and the election to heal, and we will,” Humphrey said.

Gov. Scott Walker, who ended his presidential bid early and then endorsed Cruz amid criticism from Trump, left the business man and reality TV personality out of his convention speech.

“I’ve been asked for the past two weeks over and over and over again by the media, is the party united here in Wisconsin? Well, I want to tell you clearly, the Republicans in this hall and across the state are overwhelmingly united behind Ron Johnson to be our United States senator,” Walker said.

Johnson was the clear focus of the convention. His election is shaping up to be a close rematch with former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, who lost his seat to Johnson in 2010.

“I want each and every one of you to understand we’re talking about saving this country. … You need to understand your individual efforts in a close election may be the hard work that literally saves this country," Johnson said.

arodewal@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @AdamGRodewald and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AdamGRodewald.