Perez: Dems won’t ‘abandon’ Milwaukee as convention site
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said Wednesday he doesn’t know how many delegates will be on hand for his party’s national convention in Milwaukee.
But Perez reaffirmed Democrats will stage their event the week of Aug.17, despite uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
During a conference call with Wisconsin reporters, Perez said he looked forward to “when we descend on Milwaukee to celebrate our party, to have a safe and effective convention where we will highlight Joe Biden and his historic choice as a running mate.”
While Democrats are doubling down on Milwaukee, Republicans appear on the verge of pulling most of their main convention out of Charlotte, North Carolina, with Jacksonville, Florida emerging as the front-runner.
President Donald Trump and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper dispute how to conduct the convention, Aug. 24-27, during a pandemic.
Trump has sought a convention with all the bells and whistles while Cooper has pushed for a more limited event because of the pandemic.
Perez said “we will follow the science and we will not abandon Milwaukee.”
When asked how many people would attend the Democratic convention, Perez said, “We don’t know the answer today because we don’t know what the public health situation on the ground will be.
“We are actually going to listen to the public health experts as we come to Milwaukee because we believe it’s really important to have a safe, exciting, inspiring convention in Milwaukee and I’m confident we can do that.” Perez added: “Donald Trump is abandoning Charlotte because they ... won’t allow him to conduct an ego fest.”
Perez said as soon as he knows how many people will attend, “we will let you know.”