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A Republican National Committee panel Tuesday recommended that the 2016 Republican National Convention go to Cleveland over Dallas, putting to rest months of lobbying by both cities to land the coveted 2016 convention.
This will be the first major party convention in Ohio since 1936.
In recommending that Republicans host their 2016 national convention in Cleveland, the RNC’s site selection committee chose flexibility over cash, a swing state over a deep red one and shot for the grand narrative: a city on the rebound run by a Republican governor. It’s too soon to tell, however, what that means for Columbus’ bid to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
The flexibility: Cleveland worked with the RNC to offer a June start date for their convention, while Dallas was only able to offer access to the American Airlines Arena in July because of concerns that the Dallas Mavericks might participate in the NBA playoffs in June. RNC officials hope to hold an earlier convention in order to give the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees a longer window to raise money for the general election.
Last week, RNC officials swept into Cleveland to make sure it would be technically possible to host a convention even if Cleveland were to host an NBA playoff. Cleveland officials had offered a space between Progressive Field and the Quicken Loans Arena to do critical setup for a June convention if needed.
While RNC chair Reince Priebus told Fox News that a Cleveland convention could occur in June or July, sources said that Cleveland’s flexibility mattered to the committee. “Date trumps money in this situation,” said Phillip Jones, CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
The swing state: Ohio lobbied for the convention by trotting out something state Republicans love to remind the national party: That no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. They argued that putting the convention in a swing state might energize otherwise uninterested voters and attract new energy – and, ideally, votes – to the GOP ticket. Dallas, meanwhile, argued that its conservative credentials would energize the base. "We're the reddest of the red states," Jones said.
The narrative: Cleveland is widely considered to be undergoing a renaissance, with its downtown thriving and thousands of new hotel rooms since 2008. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he believed that one reason Cleveland was selected is because it has a story to tell. Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges, meanwhile, argued that by selecting Ohio, the GOP could tell the story of a state that had chosen GOP leadership that worked – specifically, Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“This is truly a wonderful opportunity to highlight the type of common-sense Republican leadership that can continue moving our state, and our country, forward,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp.
But in the end, it was both parties that welcomed the GOP to Cleveland. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, a Democrat, cleared his schedule to accommodate the RNC site selection committee during its visits. Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald was an ardent supporter of the city’s bid – Borges recalled sitting next to FitzGerald at a meeting early this year about the bid. And Portman took pains to thank both Jackson and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who sent out a joint statement with Portman supporting both the Republican and Democratic conventions coming to Ohio.
“This isn’t about being a Democrat or Republican,” said Brown. “This is about bringing jobs to Northeast Ohio and ensuring that our region’s economy continues to grow—with the focus of the country, and even world, on Ohio once again.”
Kasich received the news about the Cleveland pick just before a campaign event Tuesday in Hamilton.
“It’s not just going to mean Cleveland – although it will fundamentally mean Cleveland which is undergoing a great rejuvenation – but it’s going to allow us to focus on the other places around the state,” Kasich said. “This is going to allow us to display Ohio and Americans are going to fall in love with the new Ohio.”
Yellow Springs attorney Sharen Neuhardt, who is running for lieutenant governor with FitzGerald praised her partner’s role in helping land the convention.
“Cleveland is undergoing a whole rebirth, lots of great things are happening there and they are due in no small part to Ed FitzGerald. He’s been the county executive there for four years and he has gotten that county ready to host that convention. He and Mayor (Frank) Jackson, the mayor of Cleveland, and it’s really paid off; it’s a world-class city and the rest of the country is going to see that,” Neuhardt said during an interview in Hamilton Tuesday.
The recommendation will now launch the beginning of formal negotiations with the city, and the committee’s recommendation will remain contingent on successful negotiations with the city. The recommendation also still must receive a vote by the full RNC; they’ll meet Aug. 6 through 9 in Chicago. The RNC has traditionally deferred to the recommendation of the site selection committee, according to those close to the process.
Cleveland and Columbus are among the six cities the Democratic National Committee plans to visit beginning later this month, but Tuesday’s news seemed to signal the end of Cleveland’s bid for the Democratic Convention. A spokeswoman for the DNC said that the party has an exclusivity clause for national conventions triggered when a city signs a contract with another political party. Cleveland has yet to sign a contract with the Republicans, but negotiations are now underway.
The 2016 convention will be Cleveland’s third major party political convention. It hosted the Republican Convention in 1924 and 1936. Cincinnati hosted the Democratic Convention in 1880 and 1856 and the Republican Convention in 1876.
Staff writer Michael Pitman contributed to this report.
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