Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez remains optimistic that the party’s convention will take place in person despite discussions about holding it via remote livestreams due to fears about spreading the coronavirus.
In an interview on Monday, Perez was confronted with the possibility of a “virtual” convention.
“Everybody we speak to seems to think that the convention is not going to happen in person,” Jake Sherman of Politico said. “At this point, you must agree that it’s unlikely to happen in an in-person fashion, correct?”
“No,” Perez said. “I disagree in the sense that we moved our convention back five weeks because we wanted to maximize our opportunities to have an in-person convention, to have as muscular a convention, as exciting a convention — I’m completely committed to Milwaukee and to Wisconsin.”
The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, convention was originally set to take place from July 13 through July 16 but was pushed back a month to the week of August 17 due to the global pandemic.
Perez added that the party is continuing to evaluate the situation and took a swipe at Republicans, who are planning to hold an in-person convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, from August 24-27.
“We’re not going to have our public health head in the sand, unlike the other side,” Perez said. “We continue to be consulting regularly with public health professionals. And so we’re planning for the best, hoping for the best, but we’re planning for every contingency,” he added, noting that there might be restrictions or recommendations on the number of people allowed in an auditorium.
Perez struck a different tone on the convention than presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who earlier this month said that the party “may have to do a virtual convention.”
“We may not be able to put 10, 20, 30,000 people in one place. And that’s very possible,” the former vice president said.
