The Tennessee House passed a resolution Thursday inviting the Republican National Committee to host its August convention in Nashville.
The resolution was passed after President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that he would be pulling the convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose Democratic governor refused to guarantee a full-scale convention amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Roy Cooper said in a letter to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel that “planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity.” A few hours later, the president said on Twitter that Republicans “are now forced to seek another state to host the 2020 Republican National Convention.”
“Had long planned to have the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, a place I love. Now, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and his representatives refuse to guarantee that we can have use of the Spectrum Arena – spend millions of dollars, have everybody arrive, and then tell them they will not be able to gain entry,” said Trump.
Officials with the RNC visited Nashville Thursday for a tour of the city and are also looking at Orlando, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Dallas, and Phoenix as possible alternative hosts.
“Nashville is the best place in America to have a convention and we certainly would be interested in welcoming that to our city,” Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement earlier this week.
The House resolution approved Thursday declares Tennessee “well-suited to host the 2020 Republican National Convention” and a copy of the measure was sent to McDaniel.
“Tennessee has become a global tourism destination, while preserving its rich history, arts, cultural heritage, and magnificent scenic beauty,” states the resolution. “The Volunteer State stands poised and ready from East Tennessee to West Tennessee to nominate President Donald J. Trump as the Republican nominee during the 2020 Republican National Convention.”
The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) and passed in a vote of 70-21.
We sent @realDonaldTrump and @GOP an invitation to Nashville today. #freedom pic.twitter.com/dy0e4vpolx
— Rick Tillis (@ricktillisTN) June 4, 2020
Although the convention itself won’t be hosted in North Carolina, the RNC confirmed Thursday that it would still hold meetings in Charlotte.
“The RNC’s Executive Committee has voted unanimously to allow the official business of the national convention to continue in Charlotte,” said a statement from Michael Ahrens, the RNC’s communications director. “Many other cities are eager to host the president’s acceptance of the nomination, and we are currently in talks with several of them to host that celebration.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Republican National Convention 2016” by Walt Disney Television.
Who’s going to pay for this convention if it comes to Tennessee? Will the parsimonious Tennessee legislature make an exception to its principle of balanced budgets to finance the enormous costs of having a presidential convention in its state? Will this mean cutting funds for far more essential functions of the state like public schools, public transportation, police protection for everybody instead of just the convention site, public health, infrastructure, etc.? If the legislature uses public money to finance the convention, it will expose itself for the hypocritical body it is.
If it appears that I am singling out the Republicans, I am not. I would also oppose hosting the DEMOCRAT convention here for the same fiscal and security reasons.
Any city that hosts a presidential convention needs a sound public transit infrastructure that Nashville and the rest of the state sadly lack. Denver or Chicago, in contrast, do have a balanced surface system of rail and bus service to get the delegates safely between hotel and convention site. Nashville, in contrast, would drown in huge traffic gridlock, which is bad enough during regular work days.
You would also have to deal with major protest groups converging from all over the nation and the world to protest the far right.
Governor Lee, are you ready to deal with the huge dynamics of major protests in your state? Think over your plan to host the convention here for all Tennesseans’ sake.
BOOT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
This greedy gang of prohibitionists, climate deniers, and other crackpots are far too ignorant and poorly educated to hold any position of responsibility. Once given authority they instantly become dangerous. The two-party divide and conquer tactics used by both parties make the citizens the big losers. Not that the Democrats are not just as disgusting, at least ‘with only one party’ we can then isolate our problems and solve them. They would no longer be allowed to exploit these discrepancies. It would do well if we could boot both parties. Unfortunately, the authoritarians and their elitist puppets will remain either way.
Many citizens are also too ignorant and poorly educated to realize that we owe all our freedoms and advancements to Democracy
The Democrats and everything they stand for is nothing but a bunch of lowlife spineless losers.They are the reason why there’s no police in one of their towns and they are the reason why all the blacks are trying to take over this country that my grandfather whom fought in ww2 to defend and my 2 cousins fought in both desert storm wars to defend.Also right now them blacks are making white people wash their feet and pray to them asking them for forgiveness that our generation had nothing to do with.Donald trump is and will always be the best president we have and me and lots of other citizens of Nashville Tennessee welcomes him here with open arms.Democrats make this country stink you spineless jerk.Thank you,James Thurman from nashville Tennessee