The Democrats have selected Milwaukee, Wisconsin for their 2020 convention, amid concerns that they will not carry key Rust Belt states in the next presidential election.
The Wisconsin State-Journal announced the pick Monday morning, and the Democratic National Committee is expected to make a formal announcement about the selection on Monday afternoon. The small but mighty Wisconsin metropolis is hopeful that the thousands of Democratic convention-goers will provide a much-needed boost to the local economy.
“A centerpiece of Milwaukee’s DNC bid is the new Milwaukee Bucks arena, Fiserv Forum, which will host the convention,” the State-Journal reported. The city included the stadium — home to the Milwaukee Bucks — in their initial proposal to the DNC. The Milwaukee Bucks vice president, Alex Lasry, was instrumental in pushing the bid.
Milwaukee was among eight finalists competing to host the DNC. The Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel reports that the city made the final cut in June of 2018, along with Miami, Florida, and Houston, Texas. The Republicans, who by virtue of controlling the White House will have the later convention, will host theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August.
The selection marks a significant milestone for the Midwest: the 2020 DNC convention will be the first one held in a mid-western state since the ill-fated Democratic National Convention in 1968, which devolved into a riot after tens of thousands of anti-war protesters descended on the International Amphitheater where the convention was being held.
It will also mark the first time the Democratic Party has admitted they need to pay greater attention to mid-western states, lest they permanently lose their traditional Rust Belt stronghold to the Republicans.
In 2016, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton famously failed to visit Wisconsin in the final weeks of her campaign, after inaccurate internal polling told Team Clinton that Wisconsin — a notorious swing state — was well in the “Democrat” column. The oversight likely cost Clinton the White House.
Democratic losses in Rust Belt states like Ohio, Michigan, and, of course, Wisconsin, not only deprived Clinton of much-needed Electoral College votes, but also exposed a major flaw in Clinton’s overall strategy. Economic populism, of the sort Trump routinely heralded on the campaign trail, played well with more moderate Democrats and union members whose industrial jobs left for overseas. Clinton couldn’t empathize with blue-collar workers, even if they were longtime Democratic voters.
In 2018, Democrats made up some ground in the state, finally unseating Republican Gov. Scott Walker after three tries. But Wisconsin tempered the victory by maintaining a Republican legislator, giving Democrats only a pyrrhic victory.
Obviously, to make up for the lack of attention paid to Wisconsin voters in 2016, the Democrats have selected to put them front-and-center in 2020, but the DNC still faces similar problems to the ones that dogged Clinton nearly three years ago.
The field of Democrats running for the nomination is more radical now, almost by definition, and few will be amenable to adopting a more fiscally moderate platform, particularly given the rise of “Democratic socialism,” which proposes an almost endless welfare state for those out of work, rather than trade and immigration proposals that could mitigate the damage done to local economies by the collapse of industry.
We do know at least one thing will be different from 2016. The privilege of being the 2016 nominee will afford Hillary Clinton a prime speaking spot at next summer’s convention, which means that, after four years, a campaign, and a book tour (though that was rather ill-fated), Hillary Clinton will finally have the opportunity to visit Wisconsin.