Delegates to the Minnesota Republican Party’s convention held a moment of silence over the weekend for Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, six years after he murdered George Floyd and touched off a national reckoning over policing and race.
The decision brought searing criticism from Democrats, who accused the Republicans of disrespecting the courts and Mr. Floyd’s memory. In recent years, some conservatives have sought to reshape the narrative around Mr. Floyd’s killing and have pushed President Trump to pardon Mr. Chauvin for his federal conviction.
Christopher Rocco, a delegate from St. Paul who goes by the name Rocco, proposed the moment of silence on Saturday morning, describing Mr. Chauvin to his fellow delegates as someone “who should get a state retrial, who should get a federal pardon.” Audio of the exchange was recorded by The Minnesota Reformer, a local news outlet.
When a voice vote was held on a motion for a moment of silence or prayer, many people in the room could be heard yelling aye. The nays were far quieter.
“It wasn’t even close,” said State Representative Danny Nadeau, who presided over that portion of the convention, where about 2,300 delegates gathered in Duluth to make endorsements in state elections.
Mr. Rocco said he had decided to seek recognition of Mr. Chauvin after coming to the conclusion that the former officer had not received a fair trial in state court.
Mr. Rocco said that he did not have any personal connection to Mr. Chauvin, and that no candidate or member of the Republican Party’s leadership had asked him to make the motion.
“I made that decision to do that, to stand up for someone who doesn’t have the ability to stand up for himself anymore — someone who, in my opinion, faced injustice,” Mr. Rocco said in a phone interview.
Mr. Nadeau said he chose to make the moment of silence last only a few seconds, “the minimum amount necessary.” Before starting the session that morning, he said he had told Mr. Rocco that he would prefer he not pursue a moment of silence.
“It’s not a good look, in my opinion,” said Mr. Nadeau, whose district is in suburban Minneapolis.
Democrats noted that the decision to recognize Mr. Chauvin came within days of the anniversary of Mr. Floyd’s death.
“They cannot run from this,” said the Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, a Democrat who prosecuted Mr. Chauvin in state court in 2021. “They either are OK with what happened or they’re going to denounce it. I haven’t seen one person denounce it. I haven’t seen one person say, ‘That was a bad, ugly thing.’”
Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, lawyers who represented the Floyd family, called the moment of silence “disgusting.”
“They cannot run from this,” said the Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, a Democrat who prosecuted Mr. Chauvin in state court in 2021. “They either are OK with what happened or they’re going to denounce it. I haven’t seen one person denounce it. I haven’t seen one person say, ‘That was a bad, ugly thing.’”
Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, lawyers who represented the Floyd family, called the moment of silence “disgusting.”
Mr. Floyd, who was Black, was killed in 2020 when Minneapolis police officers, including Mr. Chauvin, responded to a call that Mr. Floyd had used a counterfeit bill. Mr. Floyd defied the officers’ efforts to put him into a squad car, and in the ensuing struggle Mr. Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes as he pleaded to be released and eventually stopped breathing. Horrified bystanders, filming on their cellphones, captured videos that were quickly seen around the world.
Mr. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder in state court and pleaded guilty to a civil rights crime in federal court. He is serving a prison sentence of more than 20 years.
Asked about the moment of silence by a reporter for WCCO Radio, Alex Plechash, the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said that “there are a lot of people, I think, that believe that Derek Chauvin was improperly convicted and not treated well.”
Mr. Plechash said in an emailed statement that it had been “a spontaneous motion brought forward from the convention floor” and “was not a statement from party leadership.”
“To be clear, party leadership did not support this motion,” he said.
Justin Malone, the chairman of the Republican Party of Otter Tail County, said that he was busy getting his delegates seated at the time of the vote and had chosen not to weigh in. He said some delegates seemed caught off guard by the mention of Mr. Chauvin.
“It was overwhelmingly accepted,” Mr. Malone said of the moment of silence. “There was not too many people who said no.”
Republicans have struggled to win statewide races in Minnesota over the last two decades, though they have sometimes come close. The party has also at times held majorities in the State Legislature.
Democrats are defending the governorship and a U.S. Senate seat this year, but neither race has an incumbent running.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, abandoned his bid for a third term early this year after facing criticism for widespread fraud of state social service programs that played out under his watch. The Trump administration used that fraud as part of its justification for an immigration enforcement blitz in Minnesota that led to three shootings, thousands of arrests and tense face-offs between federal agents and protesters.
At their convention over the weekend, Republicans endorsed Kendall Qualls, a businessman, for governor, and Adam Schwarze, a military veteran, for Senate. Those endorsements are not binding, and voters can choose those candidates or others in the August primary.
At their convention, Democratic delegates endorsed Senator Amy Klobuchar for governor and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for Senate.
Before making the motion on the floor of the Republican convention, Mr. Rocco said he had been unsure whether other delegates would agree with him. Even if they did not, he determined, it was worth it to draw attention to the cause.
“I was actually really surprised that the motion passed,” Mr. Rocco said.
The moment of silence for Mr. Chauvin received relatively little coverage from local news outlets in the immediate aftermath of the convention. But as Democrats began drawing attention to it, few Republicans seemed eager to comment.
Reached by phone, Mr. Schwarze declined to comment, saying he was not in the room at the time of the vote. Mr. Qualls’s campaign did not respond to emailed requests for comment, nor did the campaigns of Speaker Lisa Demuth, another Republican seeking the governorship, and Michele Tafoya, a former sportscaster running for Senate.
Mr. Rocco said he understood why many candidates were not expressing public support for his motion.
“The Republicans still have to win the trifecta this year,” he said, referring to control of the governorship and both legislative chambers. “Hopefully, they’ll be able to do it. But at the end of the line, they’re going to have to cater to the independents. I mean, that’s how all elections are won.”
Democrats were already seeking to make it a campaign issue.
“Rather than a moment of silence to honor the service members killed this year in combat across the globe,” said Jason Heaser, a Democrat seeking Mr. Nadeau’s State House seat, “they chose a political stunt to honor a man unanimously convicted by a jury of his peers for murder.”
Ernesto Londoño contributed reporting.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
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