With half the nominating convention behind them, and after starting the week under the shadow of a recent assassination attempt against their nominee, the Republican party is more unified than ever before, according to an RNC delegate and member of the Trump campaign.

Former Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson, the chair of former President Donald Trump’s re-election efforts in Massachusetts, told the Herald that he’s “never seen a group more unified” than the one he’s found at this year’s Republican National Convention.

The attempt on the former president’s life, according to the MassGOP Delegate At-Large, essentially wraps up what lingering doubts remained among on-the-fence conservatives who might have previously considered another candidate.

When you stack the shooting on top of that the way Trump was treated through his presidency — twice impeached and then subjected to a Special Counsel investigation into his 2016 campaign — as well as all of the legal problems he’s faced since leaving office, supporters of former candidates Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis are starting to see a pattern, the former Sheriff said.

“People have said ‘enough is enough.’ This man’s been trying to give our economy back to us, make us safe, close the border, do all the things that matter to us, and now somebody is trying to take him out,” Hodgson said.

“You get that sense in the arena. When he walked in the last few nights – it was just electrifying. Really unbelievable,” Hodgson said.

While the party is more excited, the candidate seems more circumspect, Hodgson said.

That’s a natural reaction to almost losing your life, the former police detective said. While Trump may have had the adrenaline and presence of mind required to stand up just after he was shot and tell the audience to “fight” for what they believed in, hours later Trump will have had time to consider how close he came to the end.

“When he had time to pause and think…I don’t know anyone who could go through that and not feel changes emotionally. Where you reflect and say, ‘wow, I almost died.’ Thinking about family, the country, everything you’ve worked for,” he said.

Trump is just as enthusiastic, Hodgson said, just as committed, but “you notice there’s something different – in some respects – when he’s there.”

As a consequence, the former sheriff said Trump’s nomination speech will likely turn to the positive and speak more of reconciliation than conflict.

“What you are going to see tomorrow night is a man who continues to be very focused and dedicated to moving our country forward and fulfilling the promises he made,” he said. “In addition, I think you’ll see him talk about unity and the importance of this nation coming together, maybe in a different way than people have seen him speak about those things in the past.”