Members of Congress Told Not To Attend DNC In Person

Will the Democratic National Convention just be Joe Biden and his running mate speaking to a bunch of cameras?

The thousands of delegates expected to attend the convention were already told to stay home and vote virtually on the party platform, prompting the convention to be moved from Fiserv Forum to the Wisconsin Center.

Now members of Congress are being told to stay home.

“As the coronavirus cases in Milwaukee, and across the country continue to increase, we have been working closely with state and local public health officials, as well as epidemiologists, and have come to the hard decision that Members of Congress should not plan to travel to Milwaukee,” says an email from Chasseny Lewis, a senior advisor on congressional affairs to the convention. “No delegates will travel to Milwaukee and Caucus and Council meetings will take place virtually.”

The event was expected to draw over 50,000 people to Milwaukee, but then the pandemic intervened. Milwaukee County has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in Wisconsin and the gap between it and other counties is growing even as the state is experiencing a surge.

Voting will take place virtually from August 3rd through the 15th. The convention, already delayed from July, will take place from August 17th through the 20th.

“What we know now is that this year’s Convention will be reduced more drastically than we originally expected,” says the email. “We will be in touch in the near future to share more information about alternative ways members and their constituents can engage digitally and will work with you to answer any of your questions about how to participate only throughout convention week.” The email was first published by the New York Times.

This article goes to publication the same night that Biden was expected, pre-pandemic, to accept the party’s nomination.

The Republican National Convention is still planned to take place in person, but has been relocated from Charlotte to Jacksonville.