Pennsylvania and Ohio both will be in the national political spotlight this month as Republicans and Democrats gather at their parties' national conventions.

No Butler County residents will attend as delegates, but both conventions will have residents who will volunteer and take steps to make their voices heard headed into the Nov. 8 election.

Republicans

The Republican National Convention in Cleveland from July 18 to 22 has for months promised to be an explosive affair, with members of the party deeply divided over the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania sends 71 voting delegates to the convention, 54 of whom are elected in the April primary but are not bound to vote for any candidate.

The state party rules governing Pennsylvania delegates are a contributing factor to the questions surrounding Trump's candidacy and whether he will emerge from the convention as the party's presidential nominee.

Butler is in the 3rd Congressional District, which runs north to Erie. Delegates like Robert Yates, a Republican activist from Erie, say they won't vote for the real estate mogul.

Yates, who will stay with friends in Cleveland for the week of the convention, is excited to vote in his first convention. But he's not at all excited about the prospect of a Trump nomination, and favors “more legitimate” candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Yates said he's talked with other delegates about how to deny Trump the nomination, but acknowledges that efforts to replace him haven't come up with an “acceptable alternative candidate.”

Still, Yates argues that a vote to nominate Trump is essentially a vote to give presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton an easy win in November.

“I think it's a pretty safe bet that Hillary Clinton would win the election if Trump was our nominee,” Yates said. “I don't see a realistic way he can win a national election.”

The convention attracts about 8,000 volunteers, and one of those is Mary Kay Soriano, the president of the Republican Women of Butler County.

She will spend the week volunteering at the convention. Soriano, who is a Trump supporter, will work in the GOP events operations office and do hospitality work as well, she hopes.

She sees the convention as a historic moment for both the country and her party.

“I think this is a rebirth of the Republican Party,” Soriano said. “Changes are difficult, so there are a lot of people that are fearful. But there is a movement where we want to get back to the fundamental values of this country.”

Despite the contentious presidential debate, not everyone has picked a side yet. Former U.S. Rep. Philip English of Erie is a delegate who says he hasn't yet decided who he will support.

English, who represented the 3rd District from 2003 to 2009, sees the convention as a “great challenge” to both the GOP and Trump.

The party needs to prove that it can manage the end to a turbulent primary election season. English thinks that question will be decided by the Rules Committee that govern floor voting and by the Platform Committee that sets the party's official positions on national issues.

“I think how those committees approach their jobs will have a big impact on this convention,” he said.

As for Trump, English said, the convention is a place to prove he can reinvigorate a stale political event and cast himself as a serious candidate leading a political insurgency. That's going to take a combination of discipline, compromise and showmanship that English admits he has yet to see from The Donald.

“If Donald Trump is serious ... he will use all of his performance art to remake this convention,” English said, “and cast this (election) as a referendum against the status quo.”

Despite their reservations, English and Yates both said they believed Trump will be the party's nominee for president.

However it turns out, Ed Natali, the chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee, said the county organization intends to put its efforts toward building momentum into November. He said the committee plans to open offices in downtown Butler and the Harmony-Zelienople area, and stock them with campaign signs and literature for Republican candidates.

The committee isn't sending a delegation to the convention, Natali said, because it wants to ride momentum coming off the event.

“The thing that we're doing is really getting ourselves prepared,” Natali said. “We figure once the convention gets completed, there'll be a lot of energy moving forward.”

Democrats

Slated to take place a week later from July 25 to 28 at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center, the Democratic National Convention should prove just as dramatic.

Pennsylvania sends 127 delegates to the convention. They also are divided between presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The 3rd Congressional District has six delegates split 3-3 between Clinton and Sanders. Delegates pledged to Sanders, like Cynthia Purvis of Erie, say they're still passionate about influencing the party's national platform despite acknowledging that Clinton is all but certain to receive the nomination.

For Purvis, who also is a member of the party's state committee, college affordability, the Trans Pacific Partnership, and climate change are all important issues the Clinton campaign isn't doing enough on. She said delegates pledged to Sanders are prepared to make the convention difficult for Clinton if she doesn't incorporate their ideas into her campaign.

“If there needs to be a fight at the convention, on prime time TV, that's what there will be,” Purvis said. “It's time that Hillary and her supporters start listening and paying attention to what the American people are saying.”

Noise won't be made just inside the convention, either, said Lou Hancherick, a Jackson Township resident and a member of Marcellus Outreach Butler.

Hancherick said he and others from across Pennsylvania will visit Philadelphia the day before the convention starts to march in support of President Barack Obama's clean energy plan, which is facing a constitutional challenge by some states.

Hancherick said the party needs to do more to fight for clean energy, and the march, which is being organized by Food and Water Watch and other groups, is meant to send a message.

“Our planet is dying, and we're dying with it because of the use of fossil fuels. I don't think they're taking that serious enough,” he said.

“It's a side issue with them or something. This march is to send a message that we're not happy.”

Pro-Clinton delegate William Cole, who is the chairman of Erie County's Democratic Committee, said he doesn't believe the party's public discussion will deteriorate.

He doesn't expect a floor fight or a nasty convention — mostly because of attention on Trump. He said conversations with delegates from both Clinton and Sanders camps have been positive.

“Surprisingly, it was pretty laid back and relaxed,” Cole said. “I think because we realized the gravity of the situation, listening to Donald Trump.”

Still, Cole said, he expects an exciting time in Philadelphia, and believes the party is in a strong position headed into November.

“This one's going to be more like the Superbowl because we have two great candidates,” he said.