Report: GOP national convention 'tentatively' set for Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville could be getting closer to hosting the Republican National Convention (RNC) in August, according to the Washington Post.

A report by the publication states that three Republican officials have confirmed to them that they have settled on Jacksonville as the location for their RNC festivities. The Post also reported Republican officials were in Jacksonville this week checking out the city. Staffers are reportedly trying to find enough hotel rooms to accommodate a large number of attendees.

Although there has been no official statement confirming Jacksonville as the location, First Coast News reports that downtown hotels are booked through the week of August 25th through 28th, which is the same week as the RNC.

According to WJXT, tourism officials said the city could handle the event, which could draw up to 80,000 visitors. Orlando has also been mentioned as a possible city for the major event.

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The convention could possibly be split between Jacksonville and Charlotte, which would host the more low-profile meetings.

Governor Ron DeSantis had urged President Donald Trump to hold the event in the Sunshine State. The President recently took to Twitter declaring that the GOP convention will not happen in Charlotte, North Carolina as originally planned.

The president stated in a tweet that "we are now forced to seek another state to host the 2020 republican national convention." 

“We would like to have it,” DeSantis said. “Obviously Orlando, just because of the hotel capacity, the arena would be an obvious place.”

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President Trump stated that Charlotte's coronavirus restrictions were keeping the convention from happening there. DeSantis said he'd take a different approach though.

“I've talked with folks at the RNC,” he said. “We could potentially - we'll see what the prevalence is of the virus - we have mitigation measures, you had masks, you can do all those things."

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