Washington (AFP) – US Republicans will hold their 2020 national convention in Charlotte, the party leadership announced Friday, putting the North Carolina city back in the political spotlight after it hosted the Democrats in 2012.
The widely expected decision was made by a unanimous vote of committee members during the Republican National Committee’s summer meeting in Austin, Texas.
The quadrennial national conventions for the United States’ two main political parties are held in the months before presidential elections, and are where party nominees for the White House are officially chosen after lengthy campaigns.
“We look forward to seeing the Queen City take center stage as the Republican Party re-nominates President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to continue fighting for the American people,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
Trump is now likely to accept the nomination for another four-year term in the same arena where his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama kicked off his successful re-election bid in 2012.
Trump carried North Carolina by 2.6 percentage points in 2016, although the predominantly Democratic city of Charlotte supported Hillary Clinton that year.
Obama won the state by half a percentage point in 2008, but lost it four years later.
Earlier this week Charlotte’s city council approved the move to host the Republican National Convention, which the city estimates will bring 35,000 visitors to the community.
The pick is a victory of sorts for North Carolina, which faced severe criticism and economic boycotts in 2016 after the state’s Republican governor signed a controversial law that restricted which public restrooms transgender people could use. The governor’s Democratic successor repealed the law last year.
No exact date has been set for the Republican convention, but it is expected to be held in July or August 2020, ahead of the November election.
The Democratic National Committee location finalists are reportedly Houston, Miami Beach and Milwaukee.