Republicans around the country are lobbying for their states to host the party’s national convention after President Trump threatened to pull the event from Charlotte, North Carolina.
“What better place than Florida for the Republican National Convention? @RealDonaldTrump’s home state and the largest swing state,” Florida’s Republican Party tweeted Tuesday morning.
The governor of Georgia also weighed in with an appeal for the president to consider his state’s “world-class facilities.”
The very public lobbying follows the president’s complaints that North Carolina was not far enough along in lifting coronavirus restrictions.
He wrote Monday that he had “LOVE” for North Carolina but said he wanted a guarantee from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper that the convention could be held at maximum capacity.
His message was reinforced by Vice President Mike Pence, who said during an interview on Fox & Friends that Republicans might need to move the event to a state that had made greater progress. He suggested Georgia, Texas, and Florida as possible locations.
With world-class facilities, restaurants, hotels, and workforce, Georgia would be honored to safely host the Republican National Convention. We hope you will consider the Peach State, @realdonaldtrump!
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) May 26, 2020
Pence had lunch with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week at a burger restaurant in a public show of support for the state’s rapid moves to lift social distancing measures. And the president is due to see DeSantis on Wednesday when NASA and SpaceX make the first manned rocket launch from American soil since the space shuttle program ended.
The state’s Republican Party chairman said Florida could provide a safe event for the president.
“The Republican Party of Florida would welcome the opportunity to host the Republican National Convention,” Joe Gruters told the Miami Herald in a statement. “Florida is committed to ensuring a safe, secure, and successful event for President Trump and all attendees.”
The Republican National Committee is due to host its nominating convention at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte Aug. 24-27. It plans to remodel the site by raising the floor. Some 50,000 people were expected to attend before the pandemic upended preparations.
In his tweet, Trump said, “We would be spending millions of dollars building the arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space.”
Switching to Florida would present logistical challenges but might help Trump hang on to a state he won by just 2% in 2016.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is more than 3 points ahead in the state, according to a rolling average of polls maintained by RealClearPolitics.
The state has hosted the event on three previous occasions: in Tampa in 2012 and Miami in 1968 and 1972.
It might face competition from other Republican states, such as Georgia.
“With world-class facilities, restaurants, hotels, and workforce, Georgia would be honored to safely host the Republican National Convention. We hope you will consider the Peach State, @realdonaldtrump!” tweeted Gov. Brian Kemp, another leader whose fast pace of reopening received a public endorsement in the form of a vice presidential lunch visit.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the president was fielding calls from several states inviting him to bring the convention, and its revenue, to them.
“We want to have it in North Carolina,” she told Fox & Friends. “The president loves North Carolina.”
“It’s just the governor,” she said. “He hasn’t given us the reassurances we need. We need to be able to move forward in a concrete way.”
