GOP 2020 convention host named
Charlotte chosen, with Las Vegas as runner-up
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Charlotte, North Carolina, celebrates being chosen Friday to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, an undercurrent of concern about the potential for violence runs through the Democratic-leaning city.
The GOP’S national committee selected North Carolina’s largest city over Las Vegas as hundreds of party activists gathered in Austin, Texas, for the committee’s summer meeting.
“The city that I represent has truly established its place on the national stage, and I want to thank you again for the opportunity to showcase our city and showing the world how special we are,” said Mayor Vi Lyles, Charlotte’s first black female mayor. “We’re a growing center of diversity and inclusiveness in the New South, and we’re going to show you the true meaning of Southern hospitality.”
Lyles led the campaign to bring the convention to Charlotte and said in a newspaper column that it would be a chance for the city to show its inclusiveness. At a public hearing Monday, more than 100 residents spoke for and against the proposed bid. The City Council voted 6-5 to extend the bid.
“I’m going to call for unity,” Lyles said after Monday’s vote. “Unity doesn’t come easily. It comes with hard work, and we’re trying our best to make that happen.”
Throughout the City Council meeting, opponents of the bid said the convention would put Charlotte residents at risk. Tens of thousands of political activists, protesters and journalists are expected to converge on Charlotte in two years.
“I do not believe that something like ’68 is going to happen in Charlotte,” said Larry Shaheen, a Charlotte-based Republican consultant, referring to the violence at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, where Vietnam War protesters fought police in the streets.
Given recent events in the city, he said, it would be wise for Charlotte convention organizers to begin building civic unity now for the event despite political divisions to avoid a spark “fanning into the flame.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have narrowed their 2020 convention choices to Houston, Miami and Milwaukee. They’re also planning to move up their convention date to give the party more time to come together before the fall general election.