City looks to advance bid for ’24 RNC
Sources: Milwaukee is further along on needed agreement than other finalist
Common Council members are being briefed on a proposed agreement that could pave the way for the Republican Party to hold its 2024 national convention in Milwaukee.
The city is going through the step as Milwaukee and Nashville are the two finalists for the convention.
Insiders in Milwaukee are saying Nashville is involved in a similar process as the Republican National Committee is due to make its decision later this summer. Sources familiar with the process have characterized Milwaukee as being further along in the process than Nashville.
Peggy Williams-Smith, president and chief executive of VISIT Milwaukee, said before it makes its selection, the RNC wants “everything ready to go. The hotel package. The venue package. An agreement with the city.”
Briefing of Common Council members will continue into next week. The briefings are being conducted by the mayor’s office and other city agencies.
“I know they are making the rounds,” Ald. Ashanti Hamilton said.
What’s known as a master framework agreement could come before a special Steering and Rules Committee hearing as early as May 23.
The full council would have to approve any deal between the city and the Republican National Committee.
A similar package was agreed to when the city won the right to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention. That event was pared back significantly and turned into a mostly virtual event because of the pandemic.
Approval of the deal is not guaranteed in an often sharply divided council.
“I know there are some who are adamantly opposed to it and others who see the economic value of that number of people coming to the city,” said Hamilton, who is still awaiting a briefing.
Ald. Michael Murphy backs getting the convention.
“It derives great national recognition for our city and provides a great shot in the arm for our businesses and community,” Murphy said.
Ald. Robert Bauman, a critic of bringing the convention here, said: “I think it’s blood money. These are people that basically don’t respect democracy anymore, not to mention what they have done to us at the state level.”
Milwaukee officials have received three sets of potential dates for the 2024 convention: July 15-19, Aug. 19-23 and Aug. 26-30.
The main venues for the proposed convention, Fiserv Forum and a newly expanded Wisconsin Center, have availability on those dates. Williams-Smith said her organization is in the process of securing 16,000 rooms for the event.