Republican National Convention: Milwaukee named 2024 finalist
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee has been named a finalist to host the 2024 Republican National Convention, party officials confirmed to FOX6 News Friday, Jan. 6.
The other finalists to host the convention are Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City. A Site Selection Committee was formed and voted on last summer during an RNC meeting in Nashville.
Committee staff will go to the four remaining cities to confirm that they are able to host. The group of finalists will then be narrowed down to three cities.
In a statement RNC Chief of Staff Richard Walters said: "The Republican National Committee is grateful for and appreciative of the overwhelming interest from cities across the country to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. We’ll continue the process, review bids, and communicate with potential hosts to hear more about what their cities have to offer."
People can be found outside enjoying Milwaukee even when temperatures are below freezing, but it's the city in the summer that VISIT Milwaukee said is the selling point,
"Our miles and miles of lakefront, our amazing event venues," said Peggy Williams-Smith, VISIT Milwaukee president and CEO.
In December, VISIT Milwaukee confirmed to FOX6 that Milwaukee had submitted a bid to host the 2024 RNC. The group is leading the efforts to attract the 2024 RNC.
"They want to know that the city can throw a party. I don’t think there’s a city that can throw any better party than Milwaukee," Williams-Smith said. "I think we all witnessed it in July 2021 when we had 65,000 people out in the Deer District watching the Bucks' win a championship."
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Williams-Smith's team is now using what they learned in attracting the 2020 Democratic National Convention to craft a competitive RNC bid.
"Money will definitely be one of the deciding factors, of how much can be raised by the other three cities that are currently competing, and then just the package that’s put together," said Williams-Smith.
2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC)
The 2020 DNC was originally expected to bring an economic impact of $200 million to Milwaukee. After it was significantly scaled back, held in a largely virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact only ended up being $3 million. The 2024 RNC, however, is expected to be full scale.
"We’re looking anywhere between 180 to 210 million in economic impact, and probably 40 (thousand) to 50,000 visitors," said Williams-Smith.
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VISIT Milwaukee said it plans to continue pursuing the 2024 DNC as well, but the DNC has not yet opened up its bidding process. Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he supports either convention coming to the city in 2024.
"I think it presents a great opportunity to bring additional revenue to businesses here in the city, to put more money into the pockets of workers here in the city," Johnson said. "It's not red or blue to me, it's green."
Democrats have invited Milwaukee to bid on the 2024 convention. A letter the Democratic chair sent to Milwaukee in 2020 and acquired by FOX6 News, said it’s a "first step" in what is a long bid process. A DNC spokesperson said at the time that letters were sent to more than 20 cities.
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