Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez says the Democratic National Convention will still take place next month in Milwaukee, but the event will be scaled down because of fears over COVID-19.
“We are putting nobody in harm’s way,” Perez said Friday on SiriusXM. “Safety is job one for us in this convention and that’s why it will be considerably smaller, but it will be no less exciting — not less inspiring because frankly, this is still the most important election of our lifetime.”
“We are anchored in Milwaukee and we will have exciting programming in Milwaukee. The vice president will accept the nomination from Milwaukee,” Perez said, according to Politico. Perez also said that the convention will be nearly entirely virtual and “have a lot less people at it” than previous years.
Per Politico:
Earlier this summer, the party instructed delegates not to come to Milwaukee, after first delaying it from July to August, and is allowing delegates to vote for the presumptive nominee Joe Biden remotely from satellite “mini conventions.” Still, as cases of coronavirus continue to rise around the country, some Democrats have expressed pause about even holding the smaller gatherings.
In his interview, Perez took a swipe at President Trump, saying: “We will honor the values of the Democratic Party. We will highlight the values of Joe Biden, and one of the values of Joe Biden is humility. Joe Biden doesn’t need the ego gratification of being surrounded by 20,000 people, and that is why we’re doing it in a safe way.”
The Democratic convention will now be held Aug. 17-20, while the Republican convention will be Aug. 24-27. But the GOP has also altered its plans.
First, the Republican National Convention was set for Charlotte, NC, but the state’s Democratic governor said the quadrennial gathering might not happen because of COVID-19. So Trump bailed on that state and announced the RNC would be held in Jacksonville, FL.
But last week, the president scrapped that plan as well, deciding against hosting the convention in-person as planned.
“I looked at my team and I said, ‘The timing for this event is not right.’ It’s just not right with what’s happened recently, the flair-up in Florida, to have a big convention, it’s not the right time,” Trump said. “For me, I have to protect the American people. That’s what I’ve always done, that’s what I always will do.”
Trump did say that some festivities in Jacksonville will still occur, and the official activities that go on at the convention will still happen for select delegates – and Trump still plans to make a splash.
“I’ll still do a convention speech, in a different form, but we won’t do a big crowded convention per se. It’s just not the right time for that,” Trump said. “I care deeply about the people of Florida, and everywhere else, frankly, in this country, and even in the world, who would be coming into this state, and I don’t want to do anything to upset it.”
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