The Democratic National Committee has chosen Milwaukee for its 2020 presidential convention, a DNC source tells Talking Points Memo, a decision highlighting the heavy emphasis Democrats are putting on winning back the upper Midwest next year.
The choice places the region squarely in Democrats’ crosshairs, two years after low turnout in Milwaukee helped hand President Trump the state and the presidency and just months after Democrats swept back to power in the state in the midterms.
Trump won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes, a result that, combined with similarly narrow wins in Pennsylvania and Michigan, handed him the White House. But Democrats saw a major turnaround last fall, winning back the governorship for the first time since 2010 and easily holding a U.S. Senate seat.
Milwaukee was chosen over two major Sun Belt cities, Miami and Houston. The other two finalists were considered more practical logistically since both had more hotels and larger downtowns to hold a major convention, but Milwaukee had a clear draw as the heart of Democrats’ attempts to rebuild their Midwestern firewall and defeat Trump next fall.
The Democratic National Convention will take place from July 13-16, 2020. Republicans’ convention will take place from August 24-27, 2020 in Charlotte, N.C.
