The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of the United States Democratic Party formally chose former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris of California as the party's nominees for president and vice president, respectively, in the 2020 United States presidential election.
Originally scheduled to be held July 13–16, 2020, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee just a week before the planned start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the convention was postponed to August 17–20, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The convention was ultimately downsized, with its location shifted to the city's Wisconsin Center. Due to pandemic restraints, Milwaukee's host city role was decreased to that of a headquarters for the broadcast, with most of the convention activities occurring remotely from sites across the United States.
Adapting to pandemic restraints, the format was substantially different from previous conventions, with the duration of each day of the convention being significantly shorter than in past conventions and with most of the convention activity occurring held remotely from many venues across the country rather than at a single venue. Its activities were largely decentralized and it was regarded to be a "virtual" convention. However, the convention was officially considered to centered at the Wisconsin Center, which is where its production was headquartered, its roll call was directed from, and where a limited number of speeches (primarily those by Wisconsin politicians) were delivered. Both Biden and Harris instead delivered their acceptance speeches remotely from the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden and Harris went on to win the 2020 election, defeating the Republican Party ticket of incumbent president Donald Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence.
Background
The convention was the 49th Democratic National Convention.
Site selection
Bids on the site for the convention were solicited by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in late 2017. In the spring of 2018, the Democratic National Committee made public which cities it had received bids from. The field subsequently narrowed, with Las Vegas withdrawing after deciding it would focus solely on bidding for the 2020 Republican National Convention (an effort Las Vegas later abandoned without submitting a formal bid, with Republicans ultimately selecting the sole bid it received from Charlotte). In April 2018, the Democratic National Committee sent requests for proposals to the eight remaining cities that had expressed interest in hosting the event (Atlanta, Birmingham, Denver, Houston, Miami, Milwaukee, New York City, and San Francisco). On June 20, 2018, the Democratic National Committee announced four finalists for the convention site (Denver, Houston, Miami, and Milwaukee). Immediately following the announcement, the finalist city of Denver withdrew from consideration due to apparent scheduling conflicts.
Tom Perez (chairman of the Democratic National Committee) announced on March 11, 2019, that Milwaukee had won the bidding process host the convention.
Milwaukee's selection was seen, in part, as emphasizing party's desire to place an focus on winning Midwestern states like Wisconsin, and its desire to win back "blue wall" states in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. The swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin had been the states which the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence had won by the narrowest margins in the preceding 2016 election, and had these states been instead won by the 2016 Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, they would have delivered the Democratic ticket an electoral college victory in 2016. The 2016 election had also been the first time since the 1980s that any of these three states had voted Republican. The three aforementioned "blue wall" states were, ultimately, won by the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020.
Change of venue On June 24, 2020, it was announced that the convention had been downsized and would be held at Milwaukee's Wisconsin Center instead of its originally planned venue, Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum. The change of location made this the first major party convention held in a convention center since the 1996 Republican National Convention, and the first Democratic convention to be held in such a venue since the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Role of superdelegates
Superdelegates are delegates to the convention who are automatically chosen by the party, rather than by the results of primaries and caucuses. While technically unpledged, in the past many of them have informally pledged themselves to a predesignated front-runner in previous elections. The superdelegate system is controversial among Democrats, and supporters of both Clinton and Sanders have called for their removal in 2020.Gabriel Debenedetti, Kaine calls for eliminating superdelegates: Hillary Clinton's VP sides with Bernie Sanders in a fight that's divided Democrats , Politico (November 15, 2017).
The Unity Reform Commission, created after the 2016 election, recommendedO'Malley Dillon, Jen, and Cohen, Larry. "Report of the Unity Reform Commission" , Dec. 8–9, 2017. that the number of 2020 superdelegates be drastically reduced. In July 2018, the DNC revoked the voting rights for superdelegates on the first ballot,Herndon, Astead W. "Democrats Take Major Step to Reduce Role of Superdelegates" , The New York Times, July 11, 2018.Levy, Adam. "A new, smaller role proposed for superdelegates" , CNN, June 8, 2018. unless a candidate has secured a majority using only pledged delegates.
Except for the presidential nomination, superdelegates will vote on all issues.
Selection of pledged delegates
The number of delegates allocated to each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., are based on, among others, the proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential elections. A fixed number of pledged delegates are allocated to each of the five U.S. territories and Democrats Abroad.
Qualification of suspended campaigns The Democratic National Committee's 2020 selection rules state that any candidate who is no longer running loses the statewide delegates they have won and those delegates are then reallocated to candidates still in the race. However, the interpretation of this rule in 2020 races might be different from the interpretation in past races. In previous elections, such as the 2008 presidential primary, candidates would suspend their candidacies rather than formally withdraw, allowing their already pledged delegates to attend the convention and pick up new ones along the way.
Logistics
Before it was downsized, 50,000 people had been expected to attend the convention. 31 state delegations were to stay in 2,926 Milwaukee-area hotel rooms and 26 delegations were to stay in 2,841 hotel rooms in Lake County and Rosemont, Illinois. Another 11,000 hotel rooms were to house volunteers, members of the media, donors, and other attendees. Additionally, dormitories at Milwaukee-area universities and colleges were planned to accommodate some convention guests and volunteers. The Hilton Milwaukee City Center was to serve as the convention's "headquarters hotel". The convention's host committee had raised $40 million towards staging the convention.
Delay and downsizing The convention was originally scheduled to be held July 13–16, 2020, On April 2, 2020, it was announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the convention would be delayed to August 17–20.
As early as April 2020, the Democratic Party had been bracing for the possibility of a virtual convention. On May 12, 2020, the Democratic National Committee authorized the convention planners to research alternative methods for participants to cast votes, considering the possibility that the Democratic National Committee may decide to hold the entire convention virtually.
On June 24, 2020, it was announced that the convention was to be downsized. The venue was shifted from the Fiserv Forum to the Wisconsin Center. But, instead of the entire convention being held in Milwaukee, it would now feature Milwaukee as merely a hub city for the major convention events. The convention was now planned to instead consist of what the DNC said would be "curated content from Milwaukee and other satellite cities, locations, and landmarks across the country". All official business will now be conducted remotely. Organizers canceled official parties and events scheduled to be held in Milwaukee before and coinciding with the convention. Delegates were asked to no longer travel to Milwaukee, and plans were now formally made to implement a system for them to cast their votes virtually. The following month, in mid-July, members of Congress were also told not to travel to Milwaukee for the event.
It had initially been announced, amid the downsizing, that Biden and his running mate would still deliver their acceptance speeches in Milwaukee. However, on August 5, 2020, it was announced that Biden no longer planned to travel to Milwaukee to accept his nomination, and would instead do so from Delaware. It was also announced then that a number of other speakers that had been scheduled to travel to Milwaukee, including Biden's running mate, would also instead be addressing the convention remotely. This was seen as, effectively, moving to make the convention almost entirely virtual.
While there were initially plans to have up to 5,000 attendees in Milwaukee for the convention at the inception of its downsizing, this number gradually shrunk. The total number of people permitted to gather at the Milwaukee convention hub ultimately shrunk to 250 people, the limit that local health orders in Milwaukee placed on gatherings. Only a few speakers, such as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez and Secretary of the Democratic National Committee Jason Rae (also secretary of the convention), participated in the convention from the Milwaukee hub.
Health protocols Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a number of protocols have been put in place. Participants at Wisconsin Center were required to self-quarantine for at least 72 hours before arriving, wear personal protective equipment, undergo daily COVID-19 testing, partake in symptom tracking through a daily questionnaire, avoid bars and restaurants, and follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Security As is routine for a major party convention, the event had been designated a National Special Security Event. Originally, the United States Department of Justice was to provide $50 million in security, but this was decreased to $40 million.
Due to the downsizing of the convention, the security footprint for the convention was much smaller than had been originally planned, encompassing almost only areas directly surrounding the convention center. To create the security perimeter, fencing was erected surrounding the Wisconsin Center. Temporary flight restrictions were in place each night from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. CDT. A ban on drones was also in place.
Programming