RNC 2024 Team Visits Milwaukee

Officials from the Republican National Committee are in Milwaukee this week to tour the town as part of the city’s pitch to host the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Milwaukee is now, reportedly, one of three finalists. Nashville and Salt Lake City are the other cities, with Pittsburgh having been eliminated.

VISIT Milwaukee president and CEO Peggy Williams-Smith recently said that between $10 million and $20 million has been pledged by private donors to host the convention. VISIT, which is hosting the RNC guests, believes it will ultimately need to raise $65 million.

“Milwaukee is pursuing the RNC for the same reason it pursued the DNC,” said Williams-Smith in a statement. “To bring hundreds of millions of dollars in near- and long-term economic benefit to our restaurants, bars, hotels, shops and venues.”

Williams-Smith and others recently went to an RNC event in Salt Lake City to pitch Milwaukee.

“We highlighted what they would see in Milwaukee through the food that we served as well as the different areas. So we had a local Harley dealership who provided us with three Harley-Davidsons with a photo op so they could take a picture with a Harley. We also had a supper club set up where we had carved prime rib as well as all of the accompaniments that go with that. We had a beer garden,” she told Adrienne Pedersen on Upfront. Restauranteur Omar Shaikh tweeted a photo of the trip delegation which included Tim Sheehy, Jim Kanter, Ted Kellner, David Caruso and Jennifer Gonda.

Milwaukee has a successful pitch to build on. A coalition of civic and political leaders successfully won the 2020 Democratic National Convention. The city’s pitch included a new arena in Fiserv Forum, new downtown hotels and a key state that Democrats lost in 2016 —  for the first time in decades.

And despite the fact that the pandemic made the event effectively virtual, the city and its partners have already done the prep work to coordinate how to host the event. That includes how to secure the event’s perimeter, how to coordinate hotels and transportation and where to host auxiliary events.

In addition to the preparedness factor, the city has another amenity to pitch: an expanded convention center. The $420 million Wisconsin Center expansion is scheduled to be completed by early 2023. But beyond renderings and foundation work, there isn’t much to show off yet.

Former Mayor Tom Barrett previously said the city was able to show the DNC team Fiserv Forum the day after it opened.

Similar to the DNC, the RNC is estimated to bring approximately 45,000 visitors and a $200 million economic impact to the city.

A request for proposals has not been issued for the 2024 DNC.

A federal grant of approximately $50 million covers the security cost of both major political conventions.