DNC: Two-thirds of 2020 convention hotel rooms will be in Wisconsin
MADISON - Most of the people paying for hotel rooms during the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be staying in Wisconsin, a Democratic National Committee official said Friday.
While nearly half of the state delegations coming to the convention in Milwaukee next year will be staying in Illinois, the majority of the overall attendees — which include thousands of journalists, activists, donors and lawmakers — will be staying in Wisconsin, said Joe Solmonese, chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention. Solmonese said convention officials have secured about 16,000 hotel rooms for attendees and “the vast majority of those rooms, more than two-thirds of the rooms,” are in Wisconsin.
“And we expect to fill every single one of our rooms,” he said.
Solmonese's comments come a day after Illinois officials learned about 2,800 hotel rooms secured for the convention would be in the Chicago suburbs. The mayor of Rosemont told the Chicago Tribune he was “ecstatic” about the visitors.
Twenty-six of the delegations attending the convention will be housed in hotels in areas of northeastern Illinois, while 31 delegations will be staying in the Milwaukee area.
In all, 2,926 hotel rooms will be used for delegates in Wisconsin while 2,841 hotel rooms will be used in Illinois. Overall, DNC officials expect attendees to pay for about 10,500 rooms in Wisconsin and the rest in Illinois.
The placing of delegates is the first move on a complicated process of housing up to 50,000 people who are expected to attend the convention.
Solmonese said part of the calculation of securing hotel space in Illinois is to ensure large delegations are able to find rooms in one hotel. California's delegation, for example, needs nearly 600 hotel rooms.
“That doesn't mean there's a large hotel in Madison that we won't use,” he said. “I am confident that every hotel we have secured in the state of Wisconsin, we will use.”
He also said the committee seeks to cluster attendees together, to ensure transportation to the convention is efficient.