June 20 (UPI) — The Democratic National Committee narrowed down its options for the 2020 national convention to four host cities Wednesday, though one of those locations immediately withdrew its bid.
The committee said it had Denver, Houston, Milwaukee and Miami Beach, Fla., on its short list for the convention in two years. The office of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, though, said it was dropping its bid because there’s too much going on in the city that week.
The convention is scheduled for July 13-16, 2020.
The announcement narrowed the list of potential host cities from eight; Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala., New York City and San Francisco were under consideration.
Committee members are expected to visit each potential site this summer and make a final decision later this year or early 2019.
Houston has offered up the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, as the venue for the convention. The plan is to raise private funds to help pay for the event and reimburse the city for its share of the costs, The Houston Chronicle reported.
“Our chances have gotten exponentially better,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “I’m excited about the proposal we submitted.”
Miami Beach said major events related to the DNC would be held at the American Airlines Arena, where the Miami Heat play, if the city is selected. Other events would be hosted at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which is slated to get a $600 million upgrade, the Miami Herald reported.
The city’s bid for the convention was submitted in cooperation with Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami.
Milwaukee’s convention would be held at the new Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center, a $524 million facility expected to be completed later this year.
“Milwaukee has everything the DNC needs to put on a great convention: a brand-new arena, co-located convention space, and plenty of hotel rooms,” said Alex Lasry, senior vice president of the Milwaukee Bucks and chair of the local DNC.
Miami Beach hosted both the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1972 and the RNC event in 1968. Houston hosted Republicans in 1992 and Denver held the Democratic event in 1908 and 2008. Milwaukee has never hosted either convention.
