Democrats' 2024 convention dilemma: Chicago tradition or Atlanta's 'new
Georgia'
Send a link to a friend
[March 30, 2023]
By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced
presidential candidate Joe Biden to accept the Democratic Party's
nomination inside a largely empty arena in his hometown of Wilmington,
Delaware.
Biden's 2024 race will be different, aides and Democratic party
officials say. Democrats are gearing up for a live coronation of their
nominee in the summer of 2024.
But where, exactly? The race to host the party convention is now down to
two cities, sources say: Chicago and Atlanta.
Competition has been fierce. The 2016 convention brought tens of
thousands of delegates, media and additional visitors, and more than
$130 million in direct spending, to Philadelphia.
The decision, expected in the coming days and as soon as this week, is
ultimately Biden's to make, sources say, but shows the multiple power
bases at work in the modern Democratic Party.
Chicago's pull is rooted in tradition, deep-pocketed donors and union
ties, while Atlanta's appeal reflects the power of Georgia's grassroots
networks and the importance to the party of Black voters and a racially
diverse electorate.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/elkhartgrain_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
Both sides are pitching their case. Top Democratic political officials
in eight Midwestern states wrote Biden last week to push for a Chicago
convention. Party leaders in Southern states had already petitioned him
directly for an Atlanta convention.
The White House referred questions to the Democratic National Committee
(DNC), which declined to comment.
CHICAGO, UNION TOWN
Holding the convention in Chicago would put Biden in a Democratic
powerhouse, where the party controls the legislature and executive
branches.
Biden easily carried Illinois in 2020 and some of the state's media
markets reach nearby Wisconsin, one of the most competitive presidential
battleground states in the country.
Democrats could hold the events and host guests at venues that employ
union workers, a key asset for a party counting on labor organizations
to bring voters to the polls in 2024.
The state's political power is decidedly behind Biden. Governor J.B.
Pritzker is not just a popular governor with a loyal following but also
a fundraising powerhouse of his own, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt
Hotels Corp fortune.
Pritzker, who had been tipped as considering his own presidential run,
instead recently signed on to a DNC board of political rising stars
serving as spokespeople for Biden's eventual campaign.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/033023PIX/news_a96.jpg)
Voters cast their ballots during early
voting in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Jim
Young
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/atlantabank_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
"The election of 2016 is a cautionary tale that the Democratic
National Committee, now choosing where to hold its nominating
convention in 2024, must take to heart," Pritzker and others wrote
to Biden, a reference to Democratic losses in Michigan and Wisconsin
that cemented Republican former President Donald Trump's victory.
Some Biden allies are reluctant to center the convention in a
Democrat-run city which has witnessed a spike in homicides since the
COVID-19 pandemic, as Republicans allege Democrats are tolerant of
crime.
ATLANTA GIVES GEORGIA ITS DUE
Biden narrowly snatched victory in Georgia in 2020, the first time a
Democrat has won a presidential race there since 1992.
Democrats then won two Senate runoff elections there in 2021,
delivering Biden control of the Senate and making possible a string
of legislative victories, including bills on the COVID-19 pandemic,
climate, semiconductors and infrastructure.
Grassroots efforts to improve voter registration and turnout by
local activists like Stacey Abrams, boosted by population growth in
the Atlanta area, increased Democratic voters in the state and
helped forge a reputation of a "new" more multicultural, pluralistic
Georgia.
Atlanta is about 50% Black, compared to Chicago's 30%. Black voters
powered Biden's victory in the party primary and general election.
Still, the 2020 win for Biden in Georgia was his closest victory in
any state, beating Trump by less than three tenths of a percentage
point.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/safetytip_sda_hartsburggrain_2023.png)
A Georgia convention would put Democrats in the middle of a sharply
divided state, home to both the city of South Fulton, where more
than 9 in 10 residents are Black, and Trump loyalists like U.S.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose district voted 73% for
the Republican former president in 2020.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by
Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |