Small-Business Owners Front and Center at 2nd Night of Republican Convention

In this screenshot from the RNC’s livestream of the 2020 Republican National Convention, John Peterson, owner and chief executive of metal fabricator Schuette Metals, addresses the virtual convention on Aug. 25, 2020. Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images

A lobster fisherman, a dairy farmer, and a metal fabricator delivered speeches during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 25, lauding President Donald Trump’s economic policies, including tax cuts and deregulation.

Jason Joyce, and an eighth-generation lobster fisherman from Maine, said he didn’t support Trump during the 2016 election, but has since changed his mind after the president followed through on his campaign promises. He lamented an Obama–Biden administration move to order thousands of miles of ocean off-limits to commercial fishermen.