Milwaukee Common Council approves a framework for the 2024 Republican National Convention, a key step in being named host city

Milwaukee elected leaders united Wednesday in their support for hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention, a major step that brings the city closer to winning the massive event.

Just hours after the Common Council unanimously approved a framework agreement on the RNC, Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed the legislation in the City Hall Rotunda surrounded by event organizers and supporters.

"We have reached an important stage in our work to win the Republican National Convention in 2024, and I am hopeful that Milwaukee will soon receive word from the Republicans that they have chosen to bring their national convention in 2024 right here to our city," he said.

Milwaukee and Nashville are the final contenders for the convention that could draw tens of thousands of visitors and an estimated $200 million in economic impact. The winner could be announced by the end of this month.

City leaders' unity around the event had not been assured.

That a vote would even take place at Wednesday's regular council meeting was anything but certain after a key council committee withheld its support for the agreement last week.

The 13 council members in deeply blue Milwaukee had been weighing competing political and financial pressures of hosting the Republicans' marquee gathering.

A day before Wednesday's meeting Council President José G. Pérez called the vote a "tough decision" considering the range of opinions on a potential convention in addition to the need to rebuild Milwaukee's relationship with Republicans in Madison who hold the key to the city's financial stability.

"I don't rule anything out, and I don't want to make a commitment that I can't keep, either," he said Tuesday.

Ultimately, though, he joined the rest of his colleagues in supporting the RNC.

After the vote, there were hugs, fist bumps and a general sense of celebration in a room off the council floor.

“This will go a long way in our quest to host the 2024 convention,” said Peggy Williams-Smith, president and chief executive of VISIT Milwaukee.

The framework agreement is a deal between the City of Milwaukee, the Republican National Committee and the local host committee. It lays out such items as road closures for the event and security requirements, including Milwaukee's need to apply for a $50 million security grant from the federal government.

For its part, the local host committee has to come up with the funds to stage the event, including a financial guarantee to cover any shortfalls.

While approval of the framework agreement doesn't necessarily mean the city has won the bid, it's a necessary step that could help Milwaukee land a second major political convention this decade, after the 2020 Democratic National Convention that became a largely virtual event in the coronavirus pandemic.

Agreements still have to be reached between the host committee and the main venues, Fiserv Forum and Wisconsin Center District.

Vote heralded as a major step forward

On Wednesday, council members explained their support for the convention not only in terms of the expected benefits to local businesses and the economy but also the need to build relationships with state Republican legislators who hold the key to helping the city address its dire financial challenges.

“We are really in a struggle to try and get the Republican Party in the state to provide assistance to allow us to address our structural budget deficit that's forthcoming in the next few years,” said Ald. Michael Murphy, who raised the issue at council. “To turn down that convention would probably kill that dialogue going forward.”

The convention organizers and supporters heralded the vote as a significant step.

Gerard Randall, a Republican Party of Wisconsin vice chairman and secretary of the host committee, said organizers did a better job of communicating to council members in the week since the committee met.

“Obviously, we did something right because it’s 13-zip,” he said of the vote. "I think we have worked tirelessly to help the broader community understand what the impact of the RNC coming to Milwaukee would mean to the local economy, actually to the regional economy."

State Republican Party Chairman Paul Farrow in a statement called the unanimous vote "yet another testament to the broad support our bid has received."

Republican National Committee senior adviser Richard Walters said the organization was "humbled to receive a unanimous vote."

"The site selection process is still unfolding and we plan to make a final decision in the coming weeks," Walters said in a statement.

In a shift from last week, the council dropped a proposal to require a $6 million payment to the city to host the convention. Johnson had dubbed the idea a "poison pill" and organizers expressed concerns that the RNC would not sign on with that requirement.

Instead, legislation approved Wednesday stated the city and host committee "shall engage in a good faith effort to come to an agreement under which the host committee shall provide to the city funding consistent with the dollar amount normally provided to a host city after previous in-person Republican National Conventions."

That sum, adjusted for inflation, would be used by the city for housing, higher education and workforce development programs, the legislation states.

It also requires that city officials and the host committee report the status of negotiations, plan development and event funding to the council on a quarterly basis.

That language gained the support of Alds. JoCasta Zamarripa, Robert Bauman and Marina Dimitrijevic, the sponsors of the proposal to require the $6 million payment.

Zamarripa said she still hoped that $6 million would ultimately come to the city in the form of leftover funds raised by the host committee. That number, she said, comes from the amounts that other cities received for previous RNCs in fundraising and donations to local foundations.

“We do feel confident around the assurances that the host committee leadership has made to commit, invest in the City of Milwaukee, comparable to what they have done in past host cities,” said Zamarripa, the lead sponsor on the $6 million proposal who also sponsored the legislation approved Wednesday.

More: A trailblazer in the Latino community, Jose Perez is ready for the challenge of leading Milwaukee Common Council

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Concerns about additional costs remain

Still, some council members have cited concerns about the convention costs the city would absorb even as it contends with serious financial pressures brought on by factors including a pending spike in its annual pension contribution.

Bauman said he remained concerned about the costs for city staff, overtime and more that would not be covered by a $50 million security grant. The downtown alderman also said he thought the convention's disruptions to everyday life in his district had been glossed over.

Pérez ahead of the meeting, too, cited additional costs for other city services such as public works and said it was important that the city get an assurance that it will receive some financial benefit.

"I think it's tough, it's short notice to figure out how this pencils out," Pérez told the Journal Sentinel.

The convention would come soon after the city this fall starts confronting a pension spike that threatens to severely cut into the services provided to residents, though federal pandemic aid could help stave off major effects for a few years.

And, Pérez said he wanted to ensure that the positives from the convention reach into the neighborhoods instead of being concentrated downtown.

Johnson sidestepped a question about how the city would absorb convention-related costs for departments not covered by that grant. He instead focused on the potential that hosting the convention could improve relations with state Republicans, whose support Milwaukee leaders need for their bids to get more shared revenue and additional ways to raise funds.

“There are a whole host of moving parts, but I think by-and-large this is a good, positive development for the city,” Johnson said.

Approval puts Milwaukee ahead of Nashville procedurally

Milwaukee's approval puts the city ahead of Nashville, which has not yet moved legislation to host the event, though Tennessee state Republicans have already approved a $25 million tourism grant that could be applied toward the convention.

Nashville does beat Milwaukee in infrastructure, entertainment and hotel room capacity, host committee member and local business owner Omar Shaikh conceded.

But troubles loom over Nashville’s chances. The booting of a Trump-endorsed congressional candidate off of the primary ballot has led to infighting among national Republicans, including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who wrote on Twitter that he couldn’t imagine holding the RNC in a state with such “corrupt politics.”

"The Republican National Committee has been thinking about a 2024 convention in Nashville, but Milwaukee is looking better all the time,” the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote in April.

More: Nashville still in contention for 2024 RNC, despite criticism from national GOP figures

City officials in Nashville aren’t necessarily enthused by the idea of hosting, either. While the RNC might represent a boon to Milwaukee’s hospitality industry, hotels in tourism-rich Nashville could actually take a hit. The city would not accept that loss, Mayor John Cooper said in March.

Now that Milwaukee is in position to host, the city will have to wait for the Republican National Committee’s decision, which is expected to drop sometime before the end of the month.

“I like our chances, but we’ll see,” Shaikh said.

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Common Council approves 2024 Republican National Convention