NC feeling economic fallout from Trump pulling convention. GOP worried about repercussions for Trump

In N.C., economic fallout for business and political repercussions for Trump
As Republicans scramble after convention cancellation, the original host city of Charlotte feels the pinch.

After years of planning and fundraising for the convention in Charlotte, organizers moved it to Jacksonville, Florida, after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, couldn't guarantee the president a multiday event without social distancing or mask wearing. After packaging the change in location as a partisan swipe at the state's refusal to allow a full-fledged, in-person event, Trump then altered his explanation last week to say he was canceling the portions in Florida, where the pandemic has surged in recent weeks, out of concern over public safety.

But in Charlotte, the ripple effects continue. The call, at the urging of the president, to uproot rigorous planning and financial investments in the city has left businesses in a crunch and spurred concern among party leaders in a state that is crucial for Trump’s re-election.

A new NBC News/Marist poll released Monday shows Biden with a 7-point lead in the state, which Trump narrowly carried in 2016. The poll showed the president's approval rating at 41 percent, a drop of 11 points in that measure since March.

And 6 in 10 North Carolinians in the poll said they agreed with the statement that “the state was right to prioritize its health protocols for large gatherings over the objections of the president.”

The political bickering over the convention has left North Carolina GOP leaders worried about November, with Biden hoping to reclaim a state Democrats last won when he was on the ticket in 2008 but lost in 2012.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/n-c-economic-fallout-business-political-repercussions-trump-n1234950

“If Joe Biden wins North Carolina, Trump gets his ass kicked all across the country,” one state Republican official told NBC News.

The decision to scrap the major in-person portion of the convention is also costing GOP donors millions of dollars on top of the economic strain being felt by businesses that were holding on amid the pandemic for the kind of boost a national political convention — and all the delegates, media and operatives — can bring to a city.


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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/n-c-economic-fallout-business-political-repercussions-trump-n1234950

“We had businesses that were counting on that as the shot in the arm that they need after a fairly unprecedented economic hardship,” Larken Egleston, another Charlotte City Council member who is a Democrat, said. “I think we would have been very short-sighted if we'd have taken a public health risk just for a quick dollar or two.”

For a convention that was supposed to generate over $150 million for Charlotte, tension between the RNC and the community continues to grow, with a major impact on small businesses already suffering from the pandemic.

Vinay Patel, president of SREE Hotels, said that his company had 12 hotels in the Charlotte region that had more than $2.5 million in bookings with the RNC for the week of the convention. He noted that it could have brought in an additional half a million dollars in food and beverage revenue.