Vice President Biden will hold a rally with supporters next Monday in Tampa, Fla., on what will be the first day of the Republican convention.



The Obama campaign announced Monday that Biden would travel on Aug. 27 and 28 to the host city of the GOP convention for a number of events.

ADVERTISEMENT

It would be an unprecedented move for a presidential or vice presidential candidate to crash a rival convention; the parties have traditionally allowed each other to take center stage during their convention week and used the time to raise funds and to rest.



Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said that the GOP would respond strongly to any attempt by Democrats to disrupt their convention.

"I think it's pretty common among parties to play with each other's conventions, and we'll have a pretty big presence in Charlotte as well," Priebus told Buzzfeed on Tuesday. "The nice thing about going first is that whatever they do to us, we can do ten times over to them."

"I'm a big believer in: if they punch us, we put on the brass knuckles and punch back," Priebus said.

The Drudge Report first reported Tuesday that Biden's Secret Service advance team was in Tampa.

Republican officials have said that their first day of the convention will be themed around the idea "we can do better" than President Obama's administration, and will feature speeches from Ann Romney, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulRon Paul hospitalized in Texas The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Rand Paul says he can't judge 'guilt or innocence' in Breonna Taylor case MORE (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio). Real estate mogul and Romney surrogate Donald Trump Donald John TrumpCensus Bureau intends to wrap up count on Oct. 5 despite judge's order Top House Republican calls for probe of source of NYT Trump tax documents New Yorkers report receiving ballots with wrong name, voter addresses MORE has also teased a "surprise event" earlier in the day.

The vice president was traveling Tuesday in Minnesota, where he is rallying in Minneapolis and Rochester at campaign events with supporters. On Wednesday, the vice president is headed to Detroit for another campaign appearance.

—This story was updated at 2:42 p.m.