Tanya Weinreis: Who Is The Coffee Shop Owner Speaking At The 2020 RNC?

A Montana coffee shop owner will be a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Monday night. So who is Tanya Weinreis, and what is her connection to the Republican Party?

Her Business Was The First In Montana To Receive A Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan

Back in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when tens of millions of people across the country began quarantining and major portions of the country began going into lockdown, it became evident that many small businesses would suffer. Without being able to congregate in bars or restaurants and being largely stuck at home, American consumers weren’t spending their money at small businesses.

In Billings, Montana, Tanya Weinreis, owner of the 11-location Mountain Mudd Espresso, was feeling the pinch. As she told military newspaper Stars and Stripes, in one seven-hour shift, one of her locations sold only $13 worth of product.

“So it became very real to me right away when that shutdown happened that it was going to greatly impact our business… we lost thousands in sales from that next day that we lost,” she said.

In March, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), along with the CARES Act, were both signed into law to provide relief for the millions of Americans suffering the economic pinch of the pandemic. The PPP earmarked nearly $700 billion to fund forgivable loans for certain small business owners in order to meet payroll.

Weinreis was the first business owner in Montana to receive such a loan, according to KULR.

“It was the easiest loan I’ve ever gotten in my life and I’ve done a lot of loans,” she said, noting that it was only six pages of paperwork and didn’t require collateral.

As The Billings Gazette reported, it was enough money to keep her employees paid for the following eight weeks.

She Appears To Keep Her Politics Largely To Herself

https://www.facebook.com/tanya.weinreis/posts/3651552538188366

On her Facebook page, Ms. Weinreis does mention her business, but as for her politics, there doesn’t seem to be much there.

Many of her posts appear to reference her Christian faith, including a link to YouTube videos from Contemporary Christian music artist Jeremy Camp. Other posts cite her support of the military and police, including a recent post that appears to reference a man she loves who is both a veteran and a cop.

https://www.facebook.com/tanya.weinreis/posts/3652046301472323

However, in one Facebook post, she appeared to buck the trend of only referencing politics obliquely. On August 15, she posted a link to a local news report about a sheriff taking on “the liberal mob.”

She Promises That Her Speech Will Be Her Own

Weinreis told KULR that her convention speech will be her own, in case anyone may doubt her sincerity. Though she admitted that she worked with a professional speechwriter, “every word” in the speech is hers.

“I think that’s really good for the public to know. I don’t know that I would have agreed to it if I was told to say something that wasn’t from my heart,” she said.