GOP: Trump convention events will move to Jacksonville, Fla.

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that President Donald Trump’s renomination speech and other convention festivities will move to Jacksonville, Florida, from Charlotte, North Carolina, after the original site refused to go along with Trump’s demands for a crowded largescale event amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday night that the RNC has tentatively decided on Jacksonville for the event. Thursday’s official announcement caps off an extraordinary search for a last-minute convention site after Trump tweeted on Memorial Day that he wanted to move the convention to a city that would allow him speak in a fully filled arena. The RNC also indicated it did not want to require masks for Trump’s speech.

Some lower-profile events will stay in Charlotte because of signed contracts requiring some activities there. The RNC voted Wednesday night to radically pare down the official business of the convention, clearing the way to move the parties and ceremonial aspects of the convention to another place.

The change means the GOP will have roughly 70 days to plan a series of events that typically take two years to work through. Political conventions, once a secretive process for elites to select their party’s nominee, are now largely for show. But they do serve purposes: kicking off the final leg of the presidential races, offering a high profile opportunity for the candidates sell a vision for the country and delivering a platform for the next generation of political stars.