Category Archives: Charlotte

GOP moves main convention activities to Jacksonville

Trump gets his unmasked convention:

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that President Trump’s renomination speech and other convention festivities will move to Jacksonville, Fla., from Charlotte, after the original site refused to go along with Trump’s demands for a crowded large-scale event amid the coronavirus pandemic.

…. Thursday’s official announcement caps off an extraordinary search for a last-minute convention site after Trump tweeted on Memorial Day that he wanted to move the convention to a city that would allow him speak in a fully filled arena. The RNC also indicated it did not want to require masks for Trump’s speech. Continue Reading...

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GOP targeting Jacksonville for Trump 2020 convention speech

Republican Governor? Check. Republican Mayor? Check. What’s not to like:

Republicans expect to move their national convention from Charlotte, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., a shift planned after President Trump told officials in North Carolina that he did not want to use social distancing measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus, according to three senior Republicans.

The decision could change, the Republicans cautioned, but as of now, officials are on track to announce the new location as early as Thursday. Continue Reading...

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GOP looks to split convention activities

Because President Trump requires the a full, non-mask wearing, packed to the rafters, convention, GOP convention organizers are scrambling:

Now, after a high-stakes and public feud with Democratic officials in a state he won four years ago, Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee are moving to largely shift convention proceedings, including the president’s acceptance speech on the final night, out of Charlotte. After a call with the R.N.C., state chairmen officially told delegates that they should hold off on purchasing airline tickets to Charlotte for the late-August event.

…And the R.N.C., for now, is hoping to soften the blow to business owners in North Carolina by blaming the governor and trying to still keep a portion of the events in the state. Continue Reading...

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NC: No Packed convention; GOP: Hello Nashville, how’s it goin’?

The feud between North Carolina and the GOP over the 2020 GOP convention continued today. NC Gov. Roy Cooper made it clear, a normal convention isn’t happening in Charlotte:

“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,” Cooper wrote in a letter to the Republican National Committee.

Cooper later told reporters: Continue Reading...

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GOP and NC trade demands as Charlotte 2020 convention is at risk

The GOP and North Carolina are playing a bit of chicken over the 2020 convention. Simply, the GOP wants to be able to hold their convention as they see fit, with whatever health guidelines they want and don’t want. Given the COVID situation, North Carolina is unable to give those assurances at this time. But time is running out on the GOP’s ability to move the convention:

Republicans planning their party’s convention traded demands with North Carolina’s Democratic governor this week over holding the event in Charlotte in August, as President Trump pressures Democratic leaders in the state to allow him to host the kind of convention he wants despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

The Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, and the president of the convention committee, Marcia Lee Kelly, wrote to Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday, giving him a deadline of June 3 to approve safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus during the event. Continue Reading...

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Florida mayors chime in on hosting 2020 GOP Convention

While talks between North Carolina and the GOP continue, Florida mayors had their say:

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman:

“Putting on an event of this size and scale takes months and months of preparation, so I don’t see how realistically that could even happen, so I think it’s a non-issue.” Continue Reading...

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NC to GOP: Your move

North Carolina secretary of Health and Human Services Mandy Cohen sent a letter to the head of the 2020 GOP Convention, basically saying, you want to be in Charlotte? What’s the plan?:

As we work together, it is important to have a written plan from you and your team as soon as possible for how you plan to approach the COVID-19 safety aspects of the convention. A written plan provides a necessary and valuable starting point to planning discussions with our public health teams at the county and state levels. …

We also discussed on Friday the need to plan for different levels of impact of COVID-19 so the RNC convention logistics could be tailored to the COVID-19 situation we find ourselves in at the end of August. As you know, North Carolina is now in Phase 2 of easing restrictions but this Saturday we saw our highest day of new lab confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina. The status of COVID-19 infections in our state and in the Charlotte area continues to rapidly evolve, thus, it will be important to have several scenarios planned that can be deployed depending on the public health situation. Continue Reading...

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GOP Site Selection back on?

Yes, we’re having fun with this, but both the Governors of both Florida and Georgia tweeted today offering their states to hold the 2020 GOP convention:

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Trump suggests moving GOP convention out of Charlotte

First the Times reported on Thursday

Mr. Trump, who was heavily involved in the staging of his last nominating convention, has even shown a new openness to participating in a scaled-down event. He has mused aloud to several aides about why the convention can’t simply be held in a hotel ballroom in Florida, given all of the health concerns and the fact that Florida is further along in reopening portions of the state.

But with expensive contracts signed and money raised, the event is unlikely to move from Charlotte — unless the Democratic mayor and governor there say it can’t be held. Continue Reading...

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Convention update

A month ago I, and pretty much everyone outside of Trump and his circle, were pretty sure there was no way either party could hold on in-person convention. Now, I’m not so sure. I mean they could put 100 people in a walled off TV studio on the floor of the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, and Trump could give his speech, and the networks would have to cover it as the official convention speech – even if all the other convention activities were virtual.  And if it’s clear the GOP will hold some sort of in-person convention, will Biden feel he has to do the same?

Here’s a summary of how we got here over the last few weeks:

  • On May 12, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee passed the changes necessary to support a virtual convention. Nothing from the GOP, yet, but they could make similar changes anytime they wanted to.
  • Yahoo News floated the following options:

The roll-call vote could potentially take place with one representative from each state entering the hall to announce their vote, one DNC member told Yahoo News. Another DNC member floated the idea of having each state’s representative join the broadcast by teleconference from a symbolic location in their state, such as a capitol building. Continue Reading...

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