Republicans are down to four finalist cities for 2024 convention
By Dan Merica, CNN
Republicans have selected the four potential host cities for their 2024 convention, according to a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.
The cities are Milwaukee, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City, the spokesperson said.
Committee staff will now travel to each city to determine the viability of each convention and will then narrow the selection process down to three cities, a committee spokesperson said. The RNC’s Site Selection Committee will then travel to the final three cities to further determine the feasibility of a large-scale event, including space for the convention events, hotels, ease of travel and breadth of corporate sponsorships, the spokesperson said.
Where a political party hosts its national convention is widely seen as a symbolic choice that offers the party a chance to both build infrastructure in a key swing state and message to important subsets of voters. Most conventions have been held in swing states over the last three decades, but some political operatives from each party believe the significance of a convention site is often overstated.
Politico was the first to report that the Republican list is down to four cities.
In 2020, Republicans held some official convention events in Charlotte, North Carolina, their original host city, despite the city stopping the full-scale event due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the primetime addresses were delivered from Washington, DC.
Meanwhile, Democrats chose to largely scrap all events in Milwaukee, the city they had selected to host the event that year, and moved the events to a virtual setting or from a stage near then-candidate Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
By selecting either Pittsburgh or Milwaukee, Republicans would be centering their 2024 messaging in major cities within key swing states. Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald Trump in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in 2020. Both states also will feature high-profile Senate races in 2022 and will likely once again be key presidential battlegrounds in 2024. Nashville and Salt Lake City are both in states that have backed Republican presidents for decades.
“The Republican National Committee is grateful for and appreciative of the overwhelming interest from cities across the country to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. We’ll continue the process, review bids, and communicate with potential hosts to hear more about what their cities have to offer,” RNC chief of staff Richard Walters said.
The Democratic National Committee is also working to select their 2024 convention host. Chair Jaime Harrison asked cities interested in hosting their convention to submit their bids by October 2021, but a committee spokesperson declined to say if the committee had finalists.
The-CNN-Wire
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