Chicago to Host 2024 Democratic National Convention
The Democratic Party has selected Chicago over other finalists like New York City and Atlanta to be the site of their 2024 convention.
Democrats thus join Republicans in selecting a Midwestern city to host the convention that will produce a final presidential nominee. Milwaukee will host the Republican National Convention in 2024.
Three sources familiar with the Democratic National Committee’s plans shared the news with NBC, adding that President Joe Biden informed Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker before leaving for Ireland.
All three cities made aggressive pitches that they represent the future of the Democratic Party, but Chicago and Atlanta were viewed as the frontrunners. Both argued that the regions they are located in — the Midwest and South respectively — will be crucial for Democrats in 2024.
Committee members liked Chicago because of the appeal of the United Center, the venue where the convention will be hosted, as well as the city’s hotels and restaurants.
DNC members also believed Pritzker’s political and financial power would not allow the convention to fail.
Chicago is the nation’s most popular convention city. Its geographic centrality has led both parties to select the Windy City many times.
The last time the city played host in 1996, Democrats renominated President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the United Center. Republicans last hosted their convention in Chicago in 1960, with Richard Nixon as the presidential nominee and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as his running mate.
Chicago’s first convention was in 1860 when Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln at a hastily built structure nicknamed the Wigwam, which would later be destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The city’s most notorious convention was in 1968 when Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey for president and violent clashes broke out between police and protestors.
The 2024 convention will be Chicago’s 25th.
Both Pritzker and Democratic nominee for Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson lobbied Biden on behalf of Chicago’s bid, NBC reported.
Johnson recently secured a victory for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party by beating both incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot and tough-on-crime frontrunner Paul Vallas in successive rounds of primary voting.
The decision was ultimately up to Biden himself, who informed the DNC of his pick. The convention is expected to cost upward of $90 million.
