2024 Republican National Convention

Hosting agreement being signed by (left to right) Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Republican Party Chair Ronna McDaniel, and Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus on August 5, 2022

On January 7, 2022, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said that four potential host cities were in the running to be selected for the 2024 convention: Milwaukee, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.[3] Milwaukee was officially the host city for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which was largely held virtually in assorted locations with Milwaukee only assuming the role of a production headquarters due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5][6] Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are both located in key swing states (Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, respectively) that had both played a significant role in determining the winner of the Electoral College in recent elections, while Nashville and Salt Lake City are both the respective state capitals of Tennessee and Utah, which have been reliably Republican states throughout most of the previous half-century (even though the capital cities themselves are considered Democratic strongholds within their states). From 2008 through the 2020 election, both the Democratic Party and Republican Party had only held their conventions in swing states.[7] Houston had previously taken steps towards bidding,[8] but decided against it due to conflicts with other scheduled events at venues.[9] Other locations that had, at one point, an interest in hosting, but which ultimately did not bid, included Columbus,[10] Las Vegas,[11] San Antonio,[7] and the state of Georgia.[12] Kansas City, Missouri had made a formal bid, but withdrew their bid in late December 2021, prior to the finalist cities being named.[13]

On February 4, 2022, Pittsburgh's bid committee announced that their bid had been eliminated from further consideration.[14] In early March 2022, Salt Lake City was eliminated by the Republican National Committee, leaving Milwaukee and Nashville as the two remaining finalist bid cities.[15]

The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County voted against a draft hosting agreement, which effectively forfeited the city’s bid.[16]

On July 15, 2022, a site selection committee unanimously voted to recommend Milwaukee as the site of the convention over Nashville.[17] The Republican National Committee voted for Milwaukee to be the party’s 2024 convention host during its early August 2022 meeting in Chicago.[2]

Milwaukee is the first city to host major party conventions in consecutive elections since New York City hosted both the 1976 and 1980 Democratic National Conventions.[7] However, the 2024 convention is set to be Milwaukee's first time hosting a normal in-person presidential nominating convention, since the 2020 convention was held with a "virtual" format.[18]

Bidding cities

City	State	Status of bid	Venue	Previous major party conventions hosted by city
Milwaukee	Wisconsin	Winner	Fiserv Forum[2]	Democratic: 2020[lower-alpha 1]
Nashville	Tennessee	Finalist (bid eliminated in August 2022)	Presumably Bridgestone Arena and/or Music City Center[19]	—
Salt Lake City	Utah	Finalist (bid eliminated in March 2022)	Vivint Arena[15]	—
Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	Finalist (bid eliminated in February 2022)	Presumably PPG Paints Arena and/or David L. Lawrence Convention Center[20][21]	—
Kansas City	Missouri	Non-finalist (bid withdrawn in December 2021)	T-Mobile Center[22]	Democratic: 1900 Republican: 1928, 1976

Photograph of Milwaukee's downtown lakeshore in August 2022

On December 21, 2022, the Republican National Committee announced that the convention's dates will be July 15–18, 2024.[23]

The event is anticipated to potentially bring 50,000 visitors to Milwaukee.[24] Estimates show that it could bring as much as $200 million in revenue to the region.[25]

In terms of population, Milwaukee is smaller than other metropolitan areas that have hosted recent major party conventions.[26] Milwaukee is among the smallest metropolitan areas to have hosted a major party convention.[27]

On April 11, 2023, it was announced that Chicago had been selected to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.[28] Milwaukee and Chicago are approximately 90 miles apart on the coast of Lake Michigan. This is a highly unusual proximity for two different cities hosting major party conventions in the same year. Not since 1972, when both conventions last shared a host city, have the sites of the two major party convention sites been so closely located.[29]

In his proposed state budget for 2024, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers included a provision that would extend the permitted hours of operation for southeast Wisconsin bars to 4:00 a.m. during the convention. State law in Wisconsin mandates that bars close at 2 a.m. on weekdays and 2:30 a.m. on weekends.[30]

Host committee

Host committee logo

Interior of the Fiserv Forum during a 2021 Marquette University basketball game

Reince Priebus is serving the chairman of the MKE 2024 Host Committee.[31] The host committee's chief executive officer is Stephen B. King.[32][33]

Working with the host committee on behalf of the Republican National Committee are Anne Hathaway, chairwoman for the convention's Committee on Arrangements, and Ron Kaufman, the convention's general chairman. They were both appointed to these roles on March 24, 2023.[31]

Hotels

Milwaukee skyline in 2022

Milwaukee and its immediate metro area have a smaller number of hotel rooms than can be needed for a major party presidential nominating convention. As a result of this, the 2020 Democratic National Convention, before plans changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was originally expected to house a large share of convention delegates in hotel rooms located in Illinois.[35] However, due to the fact that Republican conventions have fewer total delegates than Democratic conventions, it has been reported that the plans for the 2024 Republican Convention do not entail such far-flung accommodations for delegates.[36] Some visitors for the 2020 Democratic Convention were originally anticipated to stay in Madison, Wisconsin.[37] Madison, Wisconsin's visitors bureau have confirmed that, when Milwaukee city was bidding, Milwaukee officials inquired with them about Madison's hotel availability around the time of the convention.[38] In addition to hotels, the original plans for the 2020 Democratic Convention in the city had dormitories at Milwaukee-area universities and colleges accommodating some convention guests and volunteers.[39]

• 2024 United States presidential election
• 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries