WASHINGTON – The Democratic National Convention has been pushed back to the week of August 17 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Democratic National Convention Committee.
The change represents a dramatic shift for the party, which has worked for months to host a convention in Milwaukee in mid-July. While officials began planning for contingencies in the face of the spreading coronavirus, many had remained hopeful that the virus would abate and allow Democrats to host the supremely important event.
Democrats had initially picked the mid-July date as a way to hold their convention before the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But when the Olympics were delayed by a year due to the coronavirus, the three weeks spanning July and August were open for what Democrats hope will be a major media moment.
Politics in the United States has been forced to make wholesale changes due to the spread of the coronavirus, including multiple states postponing primaries and a virtual halt of all in-person campaigning.
The Democratic convention will now happen the week immediately before the Republican convention in Charlotte.
“In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach is to take additional time to monitor how this situation unfolds so we can best position our party for a safe and successful convention,” Joe Solmonese,CEO of the convention, said Thursday. “During this critical time, when the scope and scale of the pandemic and its impact remain unknown, we will continue to monitor the situation and follow the advice of health care professionals and emergency responders.”
Top Democrats began actively considering a range of contingency plans for the party’s convention last month, including changing the date, shortening the in-person portion of the gathering or going entirely digital.
Those efforts sped up in recent days as former Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading in the delegate count, began to publicly call for changes to the convention planning, including saying on Wednesday that he thinks the convention will “have to move into August.”
“I doubt whether the Democratic Convention is going to be able to be held in mid-July or early July. I think it’s going to have to move into August,” the former vice president told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Wednesday night. “We just have to be prepared for the alternative and the alternative, we don’t know what it’s going to be unless we have a better sense of whether this curve is going to move down or up.”
The change does create a series of problems for the planning committee, which has already locked in the convention venue and needed hotels for the influx of visitors.
Convention planners said on Thursday that the venue, the Fiserv Forum, and hotel accommodations in area are all still available in August.
Republicans, too, have been under pressure to consider changes to their convention, but benefited from the fact that they had initially picked late August for their meeting.
“The RNC is working closely with state parties, ensuring that they have the resources needed to get their presidential nomination processes done, and offering incredible flexibility in these circumstances,” Mandi Merritt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said on Thursday. “We are fully committed to holding the Republican convention in Charlotte as planned and re-nominating President Trump.”
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