Cities across the country are turning down the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, where President Trump is expected to be nominated for a second term.
“Most of the cities that have turned down the RNC are Democratic cities,” said Evan Siegfried, a New York-based Republican strategist.
“Their leaders do not want to suffer blowback with their residents for hosting Trump and neither do they want to have local business owners angry because protestors smashed their store windows.”
Only three cities are even in the running to host the GOP in 2020 — and only one, Charlotte, N.C., is public and open about its interest.
Charlotte’s Democratic mayor, Vi Lyles, has met with Republican National Committee (RNC) officials and is working with North Carolina Republicans to woo the party to the city, which hosted President Obama’s re-nomination in 2012.
Duke Energy, which funded much of the 2012 Democratic convention, has signaled it will do the same for Republicans in 2020. Private fundraising efforts for a potential host committee are already underway, according to those with knowledge of the city’s bid.
Representatives from the Nevada GOP pitched the RNC’s site selection committee last week on Las Vegas, but city officials aren’t on board. A spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said the city had declined to submit a bid. The authority was not aware of another bid submitted on Las Vegas’s behalf.
San Antonio’s city council last week voted against bidding on the convention. Mayor Ron Nirenberg cited the $40 million that Cleveland had to spend on security to host the GOP’s 2016 convention as a cause for concern.
Nashville, Tenn., and Philadelphia, two other cities that were once part of the process, also pulled out. – READ MORE
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