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Here's when the 2020 Republican National Convention will be in Charlotte

October 1, 2018

The 2020 Republican National Convention will be held Aug. 24-27 in Charlotte, officials announced Monday, giving organizers less than two years to raise $70 million for the event and prepare the city for tens of thousands of visitors.

The convention will take place at the Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte, where the Republican Party is expected to nominate President Donald Trump for a second term. Other events tied to the convention are expected to be held throughout the region, possibly at venues such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, as organizers show off the Charlotte area.

Convention chair Toni Anne Dashiell said organizers will begin staffing the event in the weeks following the November election.

During the run-up to Charlotte’s selection by the RNC, Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, and other supporters contended the city can host Trump without supporting him or endorsing his positions. Speakers at Monday’s event, however, showered praise on the president and showed how tough it will be to separate politics from the convention events.

“We get to be front and center when we renominate Donald Trump and Mike Pence as president and vice president,” said U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Concord Republican. “What an incredible record of achievement just in less than two short years.”

The 2020 Democratic National Convention is scheduled for July 13-16. The DNC has narrowed its choices for host city to Miami Beach, Milwaukee or Houston, according to national media reports. The Tokyo Olympics, which will dominate TV for two weeks, start July 24.

“You don’t want to compete with them,” Dashiell said of the Olympics.

The announcement of the RNC 2020 date was delayed because of Hurricane Florence, the Observer reported last month(link is external). The Republican National Committee was expected to set the dates the weekend of Sept. 15.

Supporters believe the 2020 RNC will give the city a week in the national spotlight, like the 2012 DNC that nominated former President Barack Obama for his second term. The event drew thousands of politicians and national media members to Charlotte.

The Charlotte City Council narrowly backed hosting the RNC in July, voting 6-5 in favor after hearing for hours from impassioned speakers both for and against the gathering. Lyles championed the city’s bid for the RNC, which she predicted Monday would boost Charlotte’s image.

“This gets to be an opportunity to brag,” Lyles said Monday. “There will be a lot more folks here with cameras, and to write stories, and we hope it will bring in many of the corporations that participate in that process as well.”

Opponents said the convention will draw a president whose administration has been extremely divisive and attract major protests and the threat of violence. They pointed to incidents like the white nationalist and alt-right rally in Charlottesville that left one counter-protester dead after a white supremacist drove through a crowd, and Trump’s comment that there were “very fine people” on both sides that day.

During the July city council debate, council member Braxton Winston called Trump an “avatar of white supremacy.” Winston was the only city council member who voted against the RNC to attend Monday’s event. He sat in the front row with council members Larken Egleston, Tariq Bokhari and Ed Driggs, who all voted yes, and former N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory.

“I still feel the same way, but it’s coming,” Winston said after the announcement. “This is about right now what this president represents, and it’s white supremacy...I’m not afraid to say what we’re experiencing right now as a country.”

A Republican National Committee spokeswoman could not immediately be reached.