Is city big enough for Dems in 2020?

Bid has appeal, but also questions for party

WASHINGTON – Milwaukee’s bid to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention has two big virtues and one major question mark in the eyes of many party officials from across the country.

First virtue?

The weather.

“It’s gorgeous,” Peggy Grove, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Pennsylvania, said of Milwaukee’s summertime lakefront climate.

“Also, they don’t get hurricanes,” she said, referring to the other two cities in the running, Houston and Miami Beach.

Second virtue?

The political symbolism of going to a blue-collar Midwestern city at a time when Democrats are trying to do better with working-class voters and win back key Great Lakes battlegrounds.

“If we want to really pay attention to the Midwest, we should be in the Midwest,” said Marge Hoffa, a DNC member from Minnesota.

Then there is the biggest question mark for many Democrats: is Milwaukee big enough to handle it?

“I think there are very few cities that can actually handle a Democratic National Convention properly. That’s the concern,” said Will Cheek, a DNC member from Tennessee. “It’s New York, San Francisco, Miami, the ... biggest cities.”

Cheek was one of many Democratic Party officials interviewed during the party’s winter meetings in Washington, D.C., which drew DNC members from all over the U.S.

These party activists won’t be making the final decision on where the party’s convention will be on July 13-16, 2020. That is up to Democratic national chair Tom Perez and is expected to come very soon.

But their general perceptions of Milwaukee as host illustrate the kinds of pros and cons Perez is weighing as he mulls his decision.

Most DNC members interviewed here spoke positively about Milwaukee as a convention site. Some called it their first choice for a variety of reasons.

“It’s a state we can win and must win. The presence of the convention there will speak volumes,” said Ken Sherman, a DNC member representing Democrats Abroad.

“I look forward to having a dark beer” there, added Sherman, who lives in Toronto.

“You choose a place you need to win,” said Barry Goodman of Michigan. “I think that would be the best choice. I pray they have enough hotel rooms.”

Indeed, the main concern some raised was the city’s capacity to fund and house the convention, since Milwaukee is considerably smaller than many host cities of the past.

“What matters to me is are there enough hotel rooms, OK? Do we have people driving 50 miles to the convention center? … These conventions where you’re spending three hours in the car every day are just brutal,” said Elaine Kamarck, a DNC member from Massachusetts.

“Milwaukee is just not that big a city. … In North Carolina (in 2012), Charlotte really couldn’t handle us. That for me is the issue.”

The related question for some DNC members is whether Milwaukee has the amenities of the other cities.

Wisconsin Democratic chair Martha Laning said Milwaukee’s bid has met the criteria for hotels and financial backing that the DNC has asked for.

“I’m feeling really good about it. We had to do a lot of work … we’re a much smaller city, (so) we had to deliver, and we’re hearing that we delivered,” she said of the city’s proposal.

She portrays Milwaukee’s size as a positive, not a negative, because, “it’s a community more reflective of the larger part of the country” and because it’s easier to get around than more congested cities.

“You’re a little closer to the areas we need to expand and gain. Being in a swing state sends a good message,” said David McDonald, a DNC member from Washington state.

Several DNC members noted 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton’s failure to visit Wisconsin or pay enough attention to Michigan, suggesting a Midwest convention would send a very different signal.

The last time the party held a convention in the Midwest was in Chicago in 1996.

“The Clinton campaign’s failure to visit these ostensibly blue states was extremely short-sighted. You can’t treat part of the country as flyover country. My sense is that Milwaukee would be a great place ... Wisconsin is a state that should not be treated as flyover territory. That’s extremely important,” said John Eastwood, another DNC member representing Democrats Abroad.

“I know the party is trying to make amends and make inroads again in the Midwest region,” said John Verdejo, a DNC member from North Carolina.

“Having the convention in Milwaukee is sort of like (saying to the Midwest), ‘Our bad. We’re sorry. Here we are. Please come back. We have not totally forgotten you.’ And it takes away the argument that the whole Democratic Party is the coasts (and) ‘big city, big lights.’”

Terrie Rizzo, the state party chair in Florida, is promoting Miami Beach’s bid to be convention host. She politely praised all three cities but said hotel capacity is the concern about Milwaukee that “we hear from everybody.”

As for Houston, Texas Democrats argued that rather than go to a state that Democrats have won many times, they should go to a state where Democrats are trying to achieve a historic breakthrough.

“We believe that we have a good chance of Texas going blue at the presidential level,” said Glen Maxey of Texas. “The national party should recognize that. I love me some Wisconsin, but you all just went back to ‘blue’ … We don’t need to be dancing around on that victory. We need to be going and leading (a new) victory.”

But it was striking how many DNC members mentioned the weather, which is one of Milwaukee’s clear selling points.

“It will probably be cooler than Florida and Houston,” conceded Shawn Kinsey of Florida.

Going to a convention in the middle of the summer can be awful, said Vendejo, of North Carolina.

“The humidity in Miami, that’s real,” he said.

“Who wants to go to Texas and fry? And who wants to be in Florida where you’re going to sweat to death from the humidity?” said Hoffa, from Minnesota. “We love Milwaukee.”