For their 2020 presidential national convention, the Democrats chose Milwaukee, Wisconsin while the Republicans chose Charlotte, North Carolina. A lot of thought went into these selections, but one of the key considerations for both parties was the competitiveness of the hosting states. Among states that Hillary Clinton came close to winning in 2016, Wisconsin ranks either second or third. Only Michigan was closer in terms of overall votes, and only Michigan and Pennsylvania were closer in terms of overall percentage. North Carolina was 6th in percentage (Trump +3.7) and 12th in vote margin (173,315). Both states have shown recent swing, with Obama carrying Wisconsin twice and North Carolina in 2008.
Holding a multi-day political convention in a competitive state can give a party an edge. It’s not only a gigantic local advertisement, it’s a great opportunity to organize for the general election. All other things being equal, it’s a good idea to chose a convention site that has at least the potential to flip or secure a state in your column. I never really understood why either party would want to hold their convention in New York City for exactly this reason.
So, the two parties made sensible decisions for 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated their plans. It’s not clear that it will be safe to hold a four-day indoor rally with more than 10,000 attendees. The Democrats are working with Milwaukee and appear to be remaining flexible in their approach, but Donald Trump is determined to hold a traditional event and he gave the Democratic governor of North Carolina an ultimatum that he would pull the convention from Charlotte if there were any restrictions like a requirement that people wear masks or socially distance within the arena. After Governor Roy Cooper refused to give him those assurances, Trump announced on Tuesday night that he would pull out of the contract and find another location for the Republican National Convention.
It may not be so simple for Trump to pull this off. Charlotte won a competitive bidding process and has already been awarded money for security. There are a bunch of contracts, and many of them probably cannot be voided simply on Trump’s whim. For this reason, some people believe that the business elements of the convention will still take place in Charlotte but that some other arena will be found for the pageantry.
Florida, Georgia and Tennessee are possible locations for the latter event. Wherever it is, it will have to be a Republican-run state that doesn’t care about either the health of the party delegates or the implications of having people from every state and territory come together during a pandemic and then disperse the virus back to from where they came.
Florida has hosted quite a few national conventions, but it’s fallen out of favor due to the risk of scheduling such a critical event there in the heart of hurricane season. Georgia could be a very competitive state, so it might make more sense than Tennessee.
With President Trump, nothing seems to proceed normally, so a split convention would just be one more thing on a long list of novelties. I don’t think he can back down now and have the full convention in Charlotte, so I guess we’ll find out whether he can figure out a way to have the kind of celebration he wants. Considering the logistics involved and the short timeline, it will be a miracle of this doesn’t become a debacle. And, even if he can find a willing host and get all the guests a hotel room, he’ll have to convince them to show up and expose themselves to COVID-19.
Finally, he’ll have to hope the outbreak doesn’t flare up everywhere as a result, which seems highly unlikely.
I’m beginning to understand why Trump’s parents shipped him off to military school.
Let the breach of contracts begin. Given him some of his own medicine.
Stiffing contractors, breaking agreements and under delivering are Trump specialties. So why should the GOP worry? This is their latest failed incarnation of a “running-the-government-as-a-business” president, just doing what they’ve praised him for, being a “great businessman.”
When Trump was elected, I thought: well, he’s run every organization he’s ever led into the ground. So the only question is which organization he’s going to screw up now: the republican party, or the United States of America.
He’s already messed up the country, so let’s at least hope that he takes the republican party down too.
Oh, no worries on that. It’s ALL about the money. The campaign is run by Kushner and Pascale, whom took over all the finances, and control all donations to the RNC.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-republican-party-takeover-states-237075
That’s from 3 years ago, the whole thing is now a done deal.
Put all those grifters in charge of all the money? They will leave the Republican Party without a cent.
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Oh how I pray you are right about that. I would like it even more if they took some of the money Trump was expecting. A little familial payback would be just fine.
I like that thought. Trump’s campaign has a big fundraising lead over Biden (per opensecrets) but everyone involved will be looking to skim off their share so the campaign will get less value for their money.
Grifters, top to bottom. As the end times for them nears, they’ll leave an empty shell. The ‘campaign’ owns and controls all GOP email lists. LOL!
I always suspected the republican convention would become a hotspot, just like CPAC did.
More convention fireworks. Would any media want to expose themselves to a known coronavirus hotspot to get the story? Much easier and safer to Zoom into the Democratic virtual convention, and no 14 day quarantine at the end.
Let’s not forget the protests that are sure to come with any convention site, especially a Republican convention site to re-elect Trump. There are always protests but as we are seeing right now the protests this cycle are sure to be exponentially larger and a lot more charged. Why would any city want to take that on given both their budgets and the already abysmal state of police-public relations? Does any city really want to risk becoming as well known as Chicago, 1968 or Seattle, WTO?