Cities around the U.S. are rejecting the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, The Hill reported.
Cities that have rejected hosting the event say that security costs and disruptions in the flow of the cities’ business and traffic are the reasons for their decisions, the report said.
"Most of the cities that have turned down the RNC are Democratic cities. Their leaders do not want to suffer blowback with their residents for hosting Trump and neither do they want to have local business owners angry because protesters smashed their store windows,” Republican strategist Evan Siegfried told The Hill.
Cities that have pulled out of the running include San Antonio, Nashville and Philadelphia.
The managing editor of Site Selection magazine, Adam Bruns, said that cities that would aim to host large events such as political conventions have to take security costs and disruptions into account.
"Unlike most corporate site selections, conventions bring armies of protesters—virtually a complete menu of side events with their own security and traffic demands,” Bruns told The Hill.
Three cities are in the running to host the 2020 event, with only Charlotte being public about its interest in doing so, the report said.
Charlotte’s Democratic mayor, Vi Lyles, has met with RNC officials and is working with state Republicans to bring the event to the Queen City, the report said.
Las Vegas is apparently one of the finalists for the convention. Nevada GOP chairman Michael McDonald pitched Las Vegas to the selection committee, CNN reported.
Ron Kaufman, the longtime RNC site selection committee head, said that cities have become more conscious of security costs after Homeland Security officials started designating political conventions as national security events after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
"It’s getting harder and harder to find venues that can be tied up for as long as it takes for a modern convention to take place. That’s a problem," Kaufman told The Hill.
Kaufman said that he hoped to present a recommendation for the convention to RNC chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel at the Republican August meeting in Nashville, the report said.
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