International Courant
Most conference delegates will keep in Milwaukee, although some could discover themselves taking a practice from Kenosha, 40 miles south of Milwaukee, or a bus from Madison, 80 miles west — even when some far-flung Chicago suburbs would possibly make extra sense for some vacationers. However for Republicans, it’s price it to display that they’re dedicated to the essential swing state of Wisconsin.
“Illinois just isn’t a state that’s politically in our nook, proper? So being that Wisconsin is a key swing state, the choice to be right here in its entirety was intentional,” Elise Dickens, CEO of the Republican Nationwide Conference, informed POLITICO in an interview.
Dickens credited Republican Nationwide Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel with crossing the ideological line to coordinate with Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor, Cavalier Johnson.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel speaks earlier than a Republican presidential main debate on Nov. 8 in Miami.
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Rebecca Blackwell/AP
“We all know Milwaukee is a blue group, and we wished to point out up. There’s numerous alternative right here and we’ve invested on this state for a really very long time,” Dickens mentioned.
Conventions over time have famously struggled with proximity. Delegates have lengthy needed to commute lengthy distances, removed from the downtown ground motion of the televised occasions. That may nonetheless be the case for Republicans in 2024, although organizers are emphasizing that they may take pleasure in staying in Wisconsin.
Lodge places have been additionally high of thoughts for Democratic Nationwide Conference organizers who labored to maintain delegates all inside the Chicago metropolis limits for the occasion’s August 2024 conference.
The Republican Nationwide Committee expects about 2,429 delegates and a couple of,262 alternates and one other 45,000 members of the media, friends, entourages and volunteers. Lodge assignments for delegations gained’t be made till the spring, so theoretically all of them would possibly match within the better Milwaukee space, organizers mentioned.
The promise of that commerce nonetheless wasn’t a fast promote for some Wisconsin companies, acknowledged Dickens. Some felt “burned” after the Democratic conference 4 years in the past in Milwaukee went digital due to the pandemic. The enterprise they’d hoped for by no means materialized.
However even earlier than the Democratic conference was canceled, there have been sore emotions about Democrats staying in suburban Chicago motels and flying out and in of O’Hare, Dickens mentioned.
“There’s a wealthy historical past of a rivalry between Wisconsin and Illinois,” she mentioned. “So some native Milwaukeeans didn’t take kindly to the DNC eager to cross over the borders.”
Reince Priebus, chair of Milwaukee’s Host Committee, and different organizers labored the telephones to persuade enterprise house owners that the Republican conference can be good for Wisconsin pocketbooks.
And the mayor has been doing the identical, telling companies and potential donors that the conference isn’t about “pink or blue.” It’s about inexperienced.
“I’m a proud Democrat,” Johnson informed media representatives throughout a walkthrough of the conference web site at Fiserv Enviornment earlier this month. “I’m not right here in any political capability. I’m right here as a result of my aim is internet hosting a conference that brings consideration to Milwaukee.”
