The Republican National Committee is searching for a new site for the August Republican convention even as the party holds out hope that arrangements can be made with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to keep the event in Charlotte.
“We hope to still conduct the business of our convention in Charlotte, but we have an obligation to our delegates and our nominee to begin visiting the multiple cities and states who have reached out in recent days about hosting an historic event to show that America is open for business,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
Alternatives that are expected to receive site visits by RNC officials include Nashville, Las Vegas, and Florida cities Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa. Other major cities, including some in Texas, could also be on the list if the convention is yanked from Charlotte. With a friendly Republican mayor, Jacksonville could have the inside track. So could Tampa, which hosted the GOP convention in 2012 and could dust off its blueprint from that event given the short lead time.
The RNC and Cooper, a Democrat, have been negotiating the size and scope of the GOP convention, scheduled for Aug. 24-27. Concerned a large gathering could spark another coronavirus outbreak, the governor has demanded more information from the RNC regarding plans to hold a scaled-down convention that honors social distancing protocols. The RNC is asking for Cooper to greenlight a traditional convention that would fill Charlotte’s Spectrum Center arena and permit restaurants and other hospitality venues to operate at full capacity to accommodate the thousands of people the event typically draws.
In a letter to McDaniel on Tuesday, Cooper said he could not approve the sort of traditional convention the RNC is asking for, explaining he needed contingencies for a reduced event in case there was a second wave of coronavirus infections three months from now. “The people of North Carolina do not know what the status of COVID-19 will be in August, so planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity,” the governor wrote. “We are happy to continue to talking to you about what a scaled-down convention would look like.”
The RNC has given Cooper until Wednesday to approve a full convention attended by tens of thousands of people from across the country, as demanded by President Trump. It was unclear whether McDaniel planned to cut off negotiations with Cooper if the deadline was not met. A spokesman for the RNC declined to elaborate.
Meanwhile, Republican insiders in North Carolina are bracing to lose the convention, despite initially believing it was too late in the process to move a gathering that requires years of advance planning.
Cooper has told the RNC that the party’s plans to mitigate the health risks posed by the coronavirus during the convention are not satisfactory. Republicans keeping tabs on the negotiations do not expect the governor to back down, predicting he will never give the RNC the thumbs up to run the convention according to the guidelines demanded by McDaniel and Trump.
Complicating matters, the RNC is asking for more from Cooper than approval to fill Spectrum Center to capacity. Party officials want a guarantee from the governor that attendees to the quadrennial nominating convention will have regular access to hotels, meetings spaces, and restaurants so that they can enjoy a typical traditional gathering with all of the side events and socializing that usually accompany the formal activities.
“Delegates want a good exp,” an RNC member said. “Obviously, it has to be safe. But people are not interested in coming if it’s not going to be something similar to what we’ve had in the past, where people can’t gather and visit and eat — where people can come together and celebrate the nominating of a president.”
