Houston makes big play for Democratic convention

CHICAGO — Houston plied Democratic Party officials with brisket and a macaroni bar. Miami Beach rented a boat. Milwaukee is shuttling in basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

As the Democratic National Committee gathers in Chicago for its annual summer meeting, the three cities competing to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention are putting on the hard sell.

None had as robust a presence as Houston, which appears to have nudged ahead in the early running, mostly because of the city’s large number of hotel rooms, according to several DNC members and officials close to the selection process. But Milwaukee has made a compelling political case for the Midwest, and no site holds a lock on the convention.

On Thursday night, DNC members boarded shuttles to Chicago’s Navy Pier to drink mojitos aboard the decks of the Odyssey — courtesy of Miami Beach — then returned to a convention hotel where Houston plastered its name on everything from room keys to the building’s walls and staircases.

“When it comes to logistics, venue, capacity, all that, there’s no city that can put on an event like Houston,” said the city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner.

In addition to its hotel capacity, Houston — the only city not located in a swing state — has impressed some Democrats with the prospect of an over-the-top, everything-is-bigger-in-Texas style convention. If selected, the location would send an ambitious message about the party’s future. Though Texas almost certainly will not be competitive in 2020, shifting demographics are widely expected to put the now-red state in play in coming decades.


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/24/dnc-convention-location-2020-795495