Rick Pearson | (TNS) Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Chicago has been selected the host of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, a huge economic and prestigious boon to the city, national Democratic Party officials announced Tuesday.
Chicago was selected over Atlanta and New York among the finalists to host the anticipated re-nomination of President Joe Biden. Though the choice was announced by the Democratic National Committee, the selection rested with Biden.
The convention is tentatively scheduled to run from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22 next year.
In announcing Chicago as the host city, the DNC cited the Midwestern “blue wall” of states — Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota — as crucial to Biden’s 2020 victory and to Democratic midterm victories last year.
”Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” said Biden said in a statement.
”Democrats will gather to showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down,” he said. “From repairing our roads and bridges, to unleashing a manufacturing boom, and creating over 12.5 million new good-paying jobs, we’ve already delivered so much for hard working Americans — now it’s time to finish the job.”
The selection came after months of both intensive public and private lobbying by the cities that focused not only on promoting their particular city’s hosting abilities but also by taking shots at how the others lacked the ability to showcase Democratic values.
Hosting a national in-person political convention remains a big economic prize even though it lacks the luster of past history-making gatherings. Conventions now more than ever resemble little more than highly scripted TV productions, particularly the most recent duo of during the pandemic 2020 presidential year when in-person contact was avoided by both Democratic and Republican gatherings.
Still, an estimated 50,000 people — including…
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