Resisting the prospect of downscaling the 2020 Republican National Convention in compliance with state health measures in North Carolina, U.S. President Donald Trump announced in May 2020 that most aspects of the convention would be moved from Charlotte to the Florida city of Jacksonville. In Florida (which had a Republican governing trifecta), it was hoped that the Republican Party could stage a full-scale in-person convention to Trump's liking. In the weeks that followed, a Jacksonville host committee developed plans for the convention, and raised a portion of the funds needed to stage the convention. However, rising COVID-19 infection rates in Florida resulted in the ultimate cancellation of plans to stage the convention in Jacksonville, and a decision was instead forced to significantly downscale the convention. Instead of Jacksonville, the 2020 convention was ultimately centered in Washington, D.C., significantly downsized.
Background
The 2020 Republican National Convention was initially scheduled to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Months out from the planned convention, even as it became apparent that the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic would render a large in-person convention an unwise risk, incumbent Republican president Donald Trump remained resistant to the prospect of downscaling the convention at which he was to be re-nominated. On June 2, 2020, President Donald Trump (who was to be renominated at the convention) and the Republican National Committee jointly decided to pull the event from Charlotte after the North Carolina state government declined to agree to Trump's demands to allow the convention to take place with a full crowd and without public health measures designed to prevent the spread of disease during the pandemic, such as social distancing and face coverings. Trump chose to relocate the convention to another state, in hopes of circumventing North Carolina's pandemic health restrictions so that Trump could be re-nominated in front of a full-scale in-person convention crowd.
A major party presidential nominating convention had not changed its planned host city since the 1972 Republican National Convention (which was relocated from the originally-scheduled San Diego and was instead held in Miami Beach).
Selection of Jacksonville
On May 25, 2020, Trump raised the possibility of moving the convention out of Charlotte after North Carolina's governor, Roy Cooper, stated that the convention would need to be scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump publicly spatted with Cooper, a Democrat, over this. On June 2, 2020, after weeks of failed negotiations, Governor Cooper rejected the plans submitted by the Republican Party to host a full-scale convention. Trump announced the cancellation via tweet, stating, "Because of [Cooper], we are now forced to seek another state to host the 2020 Republican National Convention." This marked the first instance in which a convention had been moved from its originally-selected host city since the location of the 1972 Republican National Convention was shifted from San Diego to Miami Beach.
After Trump's announcements, RNC officials clarified that while most of the convention's activity would be held in a to-be-selected new location, some mechanics of the convention would still be held in Charlotte. By splitting the convention between two cities, this would mark the first-ever instance in which a Republican National Convention had been split between multiple host cities. It would also mark the first instance of a major party nominating convention being centered in two different cities since the 1860 Democratic National Conventions.
In addition to Jacksonville, Republican National Committee officials reportedly considered several other cities located in states with Republican-dominated governments, including Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, and Savannah, and even visited some of these cities. Jacksonville was particularly appealing because not only did Florida have a Republican governing trifecta, but Jacksonville (unlike most other considered cities) had a Republican mayor.
On June 11, the Republican National Committee confirmed that the main events and speeches of the convention would move to Jacksonville, Florida, including Trump's nomination acceptance speech on August 27 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. However the convention's official business was to remain in Charlotte with a greatly reduced agenda and number of delegates. August 24 was to see a portion of the convention hosted in Charlotte, with the following three days of the convention being held in Jacksonville. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel highlighted Florida as an electorally important state for the re-election of Trump, and its status as his adopted home state. She touted economic benefit that convention spending would bring to Jacksonville businesses that were struggling amid the impacts of the pandemic.
This would have been the first time that a major party presidential nominating convention had ever been held in Jacksonville. The state of Florida had previously been the host state for major party conventions in the cities of Miami Beach (1968 RNC, 1972 DNC, 1972 RNC) and Tampa (2012 RNC).
Because major party conventions are logistically complex to stage, the short timeframe in which organizers in Jacksonville had to plan for one posed significant challenges.
Host committee Jacksonville formed their own host committee after being awarded the convention.
The committee's members were announced in mid-June. Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry and lobbyist Brian Ballard co-chaired the committee. The committee had originally named 32 initial members, including the two co-chairs. The initial 30 additional members were Pet Paradise president and CEO Fernando Acosta-Rua; Corner Lot Properties founder Andy Allen; Sunshine Gasoline Distributors founder Maximo Alvarez; FRP Holdings, Inc. chairman and CEO John Baker; former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi; Florida state senator Rob Bradley; president and CEO of GreenPointe Holdings, LLC Ed Burr; U.S. Sugar senior vice president Robert Coker; Visit Jacksonville president and CEO Michael Corrigan; J.B. Coxwell Contracting president J. David Coxwell; Jodi Coxwell; Florida state representative Travis Cummings; JAX Chamber president and CEO Daniel Davis; Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association president and CEO Carol Dover; Jacksonville Transportation Authority CEO Nat Ford; president of the Florida Senate Bill Galvano; Miranda Contracting president Josh Garrison; health official Leon L. Haley Jr.; Bishop Vaughn McLaughin; Morales Construction Co. president Rick Morales; speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Jose Oliva; businessman Tom Petway; US Assure CEO Ty Petway; The Vestcor Companies founder John Rood; U.S. congressman John Rutherford; Florida Senate president designate Wilton Simpson; Florida House of Representatives speaker designate Chris Sprowls; Total Military Management COO Kent Stermon; JAXUSA Partnership president Aundra Wallace, and U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz.
After the initial members were announced, Bishop Vaughn McLaughlin denied his participation, despite having been listed as a member. Leon Haley Jr. left his position on the committee days after his membership was announced.
The committee reported having raised $4,650,135.20. As of October 2020, the committee had $840,000 in unspent funds.
Venues
The main venue of the convention was to be the 15,000-seat VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. On July 16, the Jacksonville Republican National Convention Host Committee sent out a letter announcing that, in addition to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, other venues in Jacksonville would be used, including TIAA Bank Field, Daily's Place, 121 Financial Park, and "several other" venues.
Some business matters of the convention were still to be remain in Charlotte, while the most prominent components of the convention (including Trump's acceptance speech) were to be staged in Jacksonville. The remaining Charlotte components were to be attended by only 336 out of the more than 2,000 convention delegates. Jacksonville was to expect a large influx of visitor traffic for the convention, with between 20,000 and 50,000 people predicted to visit the city for the convention.
Security The Republican National Convention was designated as a National Special Security Event. The originally-planned Charlotte convention had been awarded this status. The plans for a convention in Jacksonville had also been awarded this status. Jacksonville had been given $30 million federal grants for security.
The City of Jacksonville paid $69,777 to a consulting company that was assisting them in security.
Alarm was expressed by Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams over the ability of local law enforcement to provide security due to poor funding and lack of advance planning as a result of the late change of venue. Williams expressed his belief that his department would be unable to stage sufficient security for the event on such short notice.
Hotels A limited number of hotel rooms in its metro area was a possible shortcoming of Jacksonville as a host, which the city sought to assuage Republican National Committee concerns of when seeking the rights to host the convention. When the city had previously been the site of the Super Bowl in 2005, it had had to make use of cruise ships in order to provide enough overnight accommodations for visitors.
Delegate hotel assignments
Convention planners had distributed a memo in July assigning state delegations the hotels they would have stayed at.