A former U.S. congressman who shocked the pundits in 1994 by succeeding deceased Democrat U.S. Rep. William H. Natcher in a special election, told the 2016 2nd Congressional District GOP Convention in Bowling Green on Saturday that people get their rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from God, not from the government.  

“We need to hold government accountable,” said former Republican congressman Ronald E. Lewis of Cecilia, just outside Elizabethtown. “It is going to take a team this year to elect a Republican president.”

Lewis, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from the 2nd Congressional district from 1994 to 2009, addressed the Republicans meeting in the Knicely Conference Center for the 2nd District convention. After Natcher died, Lewis faced Joe Wayne Prather, a Democrat state senator from Hardin County. The 2nd District had not elected a Republican in 129 years, however Lewis defeated Prather by a 55-45 percent result in an election with less than a 20 percent turnout.

On Saturday, he urged the Republicans not to forget their faith, noting America’s political forefathers established America as a nation under God.

“At the Democrat convention, God is not even in their platform,” Lewis said.

Saturday’s meeting was a mix of procedural votes, party logistics, speeches and discussions.

Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton and Jim Skaggs, both of Bowling Green, were selected as delegates to the fall GOP National Convention on Saturday at the Bowling Green meeting.

Warren County GOP Chairman Scott Lasley was named an elector from the 2nd Congressional District. Electors actually cast the votes for the U.S. presidential candidates following the November fall election. Lasley, a political science professor at Western Kentucky University, said Saturday after the local convention concluded that he thought the meeting “went reasonably well.”

There was also the light-hearted moment from Eugene Hunt of Washington County, who asked before the vote on the delegates and alternates if he could visually see the people he was voting for.

“Thank you all for letting me in the building,” said Hunt as he approached the microphone. “Could I see those people?” he asked, explaining he wanted to see how pretty or ugly they were, bringing laughter to the proceedings.

The 2016 2nd Congressional District Convention was a chance for Republicans from 21 Kentucky counties to vote for three of the 46 GOP delegates that will represent Kentucky in Cleveland at the national GOP convention. The more than 100 people also selected Todd Inman of Owensboro as the third delegate to the national convention from the 2nd District.

Alternates selected were Hardin County Judge-Executive Harry Berry Jr., Tom Tye of Danville and Stephen Hasselbrock of Spencer County.

The Kentucky GOP State Convention will select the remaining 25 delegates to the national convention, Lasley said. That state convention will also mull rules and regulations approved Saturday by the 2nd District Convention.

Delegates from Kentucky will be bound on the national convention’s first balloting in Cleveland to vote according to the results of the Republican Party of Kentucky 2016 GOP Presidential Caucus held earlier this year: New York billionaire businessman Donald Trump will receive 17 delegate votes from Kentucky; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will receive 15 delegate votes; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will receive seven delegate votes from Kentucky; and Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich will receive seven delegate votes. Rubio has dropped out of the race.

Pundits have theorized that the GOP convention might need more than one vote to select its nominee for U.S. president. A second balloting could produce a free-for-all as the delegates are released from their commitments to a particular candidate. Cruz or Kasich, currently trailing Trump in the delegate count, could capture the nomination on subsequent ballots at the national convention on the shores of Lake Erie.

Kentucky State Auditor Mike Harmon and U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green — who succeeded Lewis — both urged party unity as the political process rolls to that national convention.

“This is the most important election that I have seen in my lifetime,” Harmon said. “Fight for your person, but once it is over, come together and pray for who you are going to support,” he said.

Guthrie was headed to a family funeral Saturday of a World War II veteran who once endured 129-degree temperatures and other horrific conditions in Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific Ocean, he said. 

“He was 17 years old when he left,” Guthrie said of the 92-year-old relative. Guthrie said convention members needed to remember that the military veterans’ sacrifices paved the way for the freedoms they enjoy today.

Guthrie said he hears from Republicans that they can’t support the GOP U.S. presidential candidates who are running for the nomination.

“We need to wipe that out of our minds. Someone out of Cleveland will be the candidate,” Guthrie said.

The local congressman said the “crushing” national debt and government overregulation are the issues facing America today.

To give Kentucky’s children a future, a federal government restructuring is needed, he said. “We need to pass a balanced budget. Neither of the two (Democrats) will sign a bill to restructure government.” The Democrats are former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Guthrie said the strategy is for the Republicans to control two-thirds of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. “We took him (President Barack Obama) kicking and screaming just to get where we are now,” Guthrie said. The GOP needs to capture 46 more House seats for that control, he said.

A spokesman for Cruz’s campaign acknowledged the Kentucky proceedings on Saturday.

“Our campaign is encouraged and grateful for the support we are seeing across the country as we continue to win election after election and secure the delegates needed to win the nomination,” said Catherine Frazier, Cruz’s press secretary, in an email Saturday to the Daily News.

“The strength of our organization is a testament to the power and hard work of the grassroots that have come behind our campaign. Americans across the country are rising up and taking action because they recognize that Ted Cruz is the candidate who they can trust, who will do what it takes to turn our country around. our success would not be possible without their hard work,” Frazier said in the email.

No comments from representatives of the GOP presidential candidates were delivered at the 2nd District Convention.

However, Robert Barney of Wilmore, objected to the nominating committee meeting Saturday before the floor session.

“I am furious at what went on in the nominating committee,” said Barney, who claimed the slate of delegates was predetermined before the nominating committee meeting began. Tim Miller of Mason County disagreed.

“It wasn’t cut and dried,” Miller said.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.