Dems choose Philadelphia as site of 2016 convention

Gathering happens this summer, one week after GOP.

WASHINGTON — Democrats will nominate their pick to succeed President Barack Obama in Philadelphia next summer, choosing a patriotic backdrop — think the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence — in a state that’s voted their way in the past six presidential elections.

The Democratic National Committee said Thursday the convention will be held the week of July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, which beat two other finalists: Brooklyn, New York, and Columbus, Ohio.

“There is clearly no better city to have this special event than Philadelphia. The role of Philadelphia in shaping our nation’s history is unmatched,” said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair.

The City of Brotherly Love, famous for its roots in the nation’s founding, scrumptious cheese steaks and Rocky Balboa boxing films, is poised to be the site where President Barack Obama hands the reins of the Democratic Party to Hillary Rodham Clinton, their party’s leading contender for president if she runs again.

Clinton, a former New York senator, has deep ties to the city and state: Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, twice carried the common- wealth in the 1990s and their family counts ex-Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter — key members of the convention’s host committee — as allies.

During a campaign stop in Philadelphia last fall, Clinton recalled her father’s upbringing in Scranton, 125 miles northwest of the city, and summer vacations at a family cottage on Lake Winola, 15 miles farther north.

Philadelphia’s organizers plan to hold the convention at the Wells Fargo Center, the home of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, with events at the city’s convention center.

The Wells Fargo Center is part of a sports complex that includes the homes of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies and the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, giving Democrats the option of staging its final night in the open air. Obama delivered his acceptance speech in 2008 at Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High.

Philadelphia hosted the Republican National Convention in 2000, and the Vatican chose the city as the site for the World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis is to attend in September.

With Republicans holding their national convention in Cleveland the preceding week, both parties will make their made-for-TV pitches in neighboring states familiar with hardnose presidential politics.

Democrats have carried Pennsylvania in every presidential election since 1992 but the GOP often covets the state.

AP Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (center) reacts during a call announcing that Democrats selected Philadelphia for the party’s next convention, choosing a patriotic backdrop for the nomination of its next presidential candidate.