Republicans will curtail attendance and shift to a mix of indoor and outdoor venues as they try to balance President Trump’s demands for a large-scale convention while working within constraints imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told members Thursday that the new outline reflected Florida’s and Jacksonville’s public health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Programming is being scheduled for throughout the day and night from Aug. 24-27 along a multiblock radius of Jacksonville, including the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, TIAA Bank Field, Daily’s Place amphitheater, 121 Financial Ballpark, and several others, McDaniel wrote in an email obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“I want to make clear that we still intend to host a fantastic convention celebration in Jacksonville,” McDaniel said. “We can gather and put on a top-notch event that celebrates the incredible accomplishments of President Trump’s administration and his re-nomination for a second term — while also doing so in a safe and responsible manner.”
In her note, McDaniel advised members that only delegates would be invited to attend the first three days of the gathering. Delegates, guests, and alternate delegates would be allowed in on Aug. 27, when Trump is expected to accept the 2020 Republican presidential nomination.
But McDaniel skirted around whether masks would be mandated at the confab.
“We plan to implement a variety of health protocols in order to ensure a safe event,” she wrote. “This plan includes but is not limited to on-site temperature checks, available PPE, aggressive sanitizing protocols, and available COVID-19 testing.”
Prior to the virus, 50,000 people were expected to descend on Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Republican convention. Now, only official business will take place in the city after an extensive back-and-forth with Democratic Gov. Roy Moore over his state’s restrictions regarding crowds.
Democrats last month announced their 2020 convention would look different from past iterations too. Delegates are being discouraged from traveling to Milwaukee, and sideline soirees have been canceled. It’s been moved from the Fiserv Forum to the smaller Wisconsin Center as well.
