MADISON, Wis. — Republicans on Friday unanimously selected Milwaukee in swing state Wisconsin for the 2024 nationwide conference, a win for the town on the shores of Lake Michigan after its internet hosting of the Democratic conference in 2020 was upended by the covid-19 pandemic.
The choice in favor of Milwaukee over Nashville, introduced on the Republican Nationwide Committee’s summer time assembly in Chicago, was anti-climactic after Nashville primarily took itself out of the operating when the town council on Tuesday rejected a draft settlement for internet hosting the occasion.
Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor, Cavalier Johnson, joined with Reince Priebus, a former chief of employees to then-President Donald Trump, to reward the choice after it was introduced in Chicago. Johnson thanked Priebus for his work in serving to land the conference and mentioned it was an instance of bipartisanship that’s a lot wanted within the nation.
Johnson pitched Milwaukee — identified for the Brewers baseball crew, Bucks basketball crew, brats and beer — as a metropolis “filled with surprising gems.” He additionally made clear why he and so many different Democrats have been desirous to land the conference hosted by their political rivals.
“I would like you to take all of your cash to Milwaukee, spend it that week, and go away it in Milwaukee,” Johnson mentioned.
Whereas Johnson urged bipartisan help, emphasizing the financial enhance, some liberals bemoaned internet hosting Republicans within the metropolis that is house to the biggest contingent of Democrats within the state.
Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, a liberal Milwaukee-based group, mentioned having the conference within the metropolis “will make us really feel unsafe and unwelcome in our personal communities.”
“We’re calling for our elected officers to start to take note of what’s greatest not solely from a monetary standpoint, however the view of what’s greatest for all of Milwaukee residents and communities,” the group mentioned in a press release. Different teams voicing opposition included Voces de la Frontera Motion and SEIU Wisconsin State Council.
Priebus, who served as Wisconsin Republican Social gathering chair earlier than shifting on to go the RNC then serving beneath Trump, mentioned selecting Milwaukee was politically vital and can give Republicans an opportunity to spend extra time within the state.
“It is a battleground state, it issues,” Priebus mentioned. “I do know generally we debate it, however it issues.”
Wisconsin may decide who wins in 2024, whereas Tennessee has not backed a Democrat for president since 1996. However selecting Milwaukee is in keeping with current Republican selections for the conference.
For 20 years, Republicans have positioned their nominating conference in swing states — North Carolina, Ohio and Florida. Trump narrowly gained Wisconsin in 2016, however misplaced to President Joe Biden by a virtually equivalent margin in 2020.
Wisconsin Republican Social gathering Chair Paul Farrow, who was in Chicago for the RNC assembly, mentioned having the conference in Milwaukee will “energize our base much more to understand we’re an important hinge in your complete nation.” The winner in Wisconsin has been elected president the previous 4 elections.
Milwaukee, a Democratic stronghold, was chosen to host the 2020 Democratic Nationwide Committee conference, however that moved virtually solely on-line because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden accepted the nomination in Delaware, not Milwaukee. Town used its preparations for that conference to argue to Republicans that it had a “turnkey” operation able to host for actual in 2024.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper and others expressed issues about safety, the financial trade-off of getting to principally shut down the bustling downtown apart from conference exercise in addition to the implications of tying up metropolis sources for the occasion.