Chrissy Suttles|Beaver County Times

Republican Sean Parnell lauded President Donald Trumps policies during his Monday Republican National Convention speech, imploring disillusioned Democrats to join the ranks of conservative American voters.

Parnell, the combat veteran and former Army Ranger challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb in Pennsylvanias 17th Congressional District, began his nearly five minute opening night speech recounting his time in Afghanistan as aplatoon leader placed in command of Americans from every corner of our planet.

He told viewers about a 2006Taliban attack his platoon was heavily outnumbered and wounded within minutes, but his soldiers fought back and ultimately held their ground.

When he returned to the U.S. years later, he was eager to enjoy the "freedoms he defended," butfound the Democratic Party had shifted too far left.Parnell's speech then focused on Democrats and presidential candidate Joe Biden.

I watched with alarm as the party of my grandfather, a lifelong union Democrat, turned against the very people it professed to represent, Parnellsaid. I watched as Joe Biden spit venom at an autoworker who dared to question Joes intention to dismantle the Second Amendment and take your guns.

That exchange between Biden and a Michigan autoworker took place in March, when Biden said the man was "full of [expletive]," becausethe candidateonly plans to endthe sale and manufacture of AR-15s and other assault weapons oftenused in mass shootings.

In his speech, Parnell said Democrats once stood for hard working, law abiding Americans, but the new party is now comprised of hedge fund managers, celebrities and university professors with contempt for America."He called on disillusioned Democrats to join the chorus of patriot voices, and praised President Donald Trumps policies on energy independence and the Second Amendment.

The 17th Congressional District, which includes the north, south and west Pittsburgh suburbs in Allegheny County, Beaver County and a small part of Butler County, is one of Pennsylvanias high-profile races. Parnell, anauthor and occasional Fox News show guest, recently moved from Cranberry to Ohio Township.

Parnell has called Marine Corps veteran and former federal prosecutor U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mount Lebanon, too liberal for the district he represents. Democrats, however, are confident that Parnellsconservative rhetoric andloyalty to Trump wont appeal to suburban moderates.

Lamb, who flipped the historically Republicandistricttwo years ago, was among the Democrats who gave a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention last week.

Another RNC speaker with ties to western Pennsylvania on Monday was Patricia McCloskey, a Beaver County native and Penn State graduate who rose to notoriety in June when she and her husband, Mark, were recorded pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching by theirSt. Louis home.

The personal injury lawyers, both facing weapons charges for brandishing guns at protesters, warned viewers that what you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you.

Their grim speech played into suburban fears the pair called protesters who marched by their Missouri mansionMarxist liberal activists and an out-of-control mob who should have faced criminal charges.

They actually charged us with felonies for daring to defend our home, Mark McCloskey said, as the two pushed President Trumps narrative that Joe Biden would abolish the suburbs.

Patricia McCloskey praised Trump for ending government overreach by promoting more single-family home construction. Reducing zoning for single family homes would bring low-quality apartments and more crime to thriving suburban areas, she said.

The McCloskeys then criticized Democratic criminal justice reform proposals such as defunding the police and ending cash bail.

They want to walk the halls of Congress, they want to take over, they want power, Mark McCloskey said during the speech.

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Parnell asks voters to join the chorus of patriot voices at RNC - The Times