Milwaukee hosts site selection group as city pushes bid for 2020 Democratic Convention

Bill Glauber | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The arena is brand new. The city is compact and affordable. And the weather is fantastic, especially outside of winter.

Those are some of the things Milwaukee will be pushing Tuesday and Wednesday when a Democratic Party site selection committee will be in town assessing the city's plan to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

The convention is scheduled to be held July 13-16, 2020.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said July in Milwaukee is "heaven-on-earth weather-wise."

Why so much emphasis on the weather?

Milwaukee is competing against Houston and Miami Beach, where the weather in July is hot and humid, with a chance of a tropical storm or hurricane.

RELATED: Alex Lasry makes pitch for Milwaukee to host Democratic National Convention: Affordable, compact and no hurricanes

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The three cities courted Democrats last weekend during the party's summer meeting in Chicago. The host city won't be selected until after the midterm elections.

Houston put on a full-court press, Miami Beach rented out a ship, and Milwaukee had a Friday night fish fry with a special guest, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Politico reported that Houston "appears to have nudged ahead in the early running, mostly because of the city’s large number of hotel rooms, according to several DNC members and officials close to the selection process."

"But Milwaukee has made a compelling political case for the Midwest, and no site holds a lock on the convention," Politico reported.

Barrett was upbeat about the city's chances.

"We are definitely in the hunt for this thing," he said.

Barrett wasn't shy about reminding Democrats that Wisconsin and other Midwestern states are key battlegrounds that President Donald Trump won in 2016 and which the party will have to win back to take the White House in 2020.

"Milwaukee has the gritty heart and soul that Democrats need to recapture," he said. "That's where the challenge is for the Democrats, how do they connect with working people and Milwaukee has a lot of working people and Wisconsin has a lot of working people."

Barrett said the Midwest "is a place where presidential elections are won and lost."

The local bid committee is led by Alex Lasry, an executive vice president of the Milwaukee Bucks. Barrett and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, are key players in luring the Democrats.

Barrett called the Fiserv Forum "an amazing, state-of-the-art facility." The arena, which officially opened Sunday, is the centerpiece of the city's bid.

Other spaces that will be used include the Convention Center (for Democratic National Committee meetings), as well as the site of the Bradley Center. The old arena will be razed, providing a flexible space adjacent to the Fiserv Forum.

"We can have a secured area that is very, very helpful," he said.

Barrett was also confident that the local bid committee can raise money needed to stage the convention, around $70 million.

The convention will lure 50,000 people with an estimated economic impact of up to $200 million.

Lasry said the bid committee is eager to show the visiting Democrats "the real Milwaukee, the authentic Milwaukee."

"I think Milwaukee has a great story to tell on being a top-tier city, a destination city in the Midwest," he said.

Lasry called Milwaukee "a microcosm of America that is a showcase."

One notion Lasry is eager to dispel is that Milwaukee doesn't have enough hotel rooms to host such a large event. In fact, Milwaukee has 7,000 rooms downtown and more than 18,000 rooms within around a 20-minute drive of the arena.

"This is our chance to get some boots on the ground and show off the city," he said.

The visit is also well-timed, with the Harley-Davidson 115th anniversary celebration beginning Wednesday.

Lasry said the Harley reunion, and others such as Summerfest and Northwestern Mutual's annual meeting, show "Milwaukee's ability to throw an incredible event."

"We're going to let our assets and attributes speak for themselves," he said.