Democrats Pick Philadelphia For 2016 Convention

Philadelphia skyline

After narrowing the list down to three cities, the Democratic Party has chosen Philadelphia as the site of their nominating convention in 2016:

The 2016 Democratic National Convention will take place in Philadelphia, according to a committee statement.

The convention will take place on July 25. Republicans will host their convention in Cleveland the week before, on July 18-21.

Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz made the decision.

“I am thrilled to announce that Philadelphia will host the convention where we will nominate the 45th President of the United States,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

“In addition to their commitment to a seamless and safe convention, Philadelphia’s deep rooted place in American history provides a perfect setting for this special gathering,” she added. “I cannot wait to join Democrats across the country to celebrate our shared values, lay out a Democratic vision for the future, and support our nominee.”

Philadelphia was one of three finalists, with the other two being New York City, specifically Brooklyn, and Columbus, Ohio. To some extent, I suppose, the selection of Philadelphia is a surprise because most observers seemed to be anticipating that the frontrunners were Columbus, due to the fact that Ohio is likely to be a closely fought over swing state in 2016, or New York due to that city’s ties to the Clintons. In the end, though, I’m not sure it makes much sense to try to draw any political conclusions from this choice. It’s fairly rare that a party’s choice of a convention site ends up having any significant impact on the outcome of an election, and it’s unlikely that the Democratic Party’s failure to pick Columbus is going to have any real impact on who wins Ohio, especially since the Columbus area is heavily Democratic in any case.

It is somewhat significant that the Democrats have chosen to hold their convention in July. As with the RNC’s decision with regard to its own convention, this is a break from the recent trend of holding the convention near the end of August or early September. Among other things, it means that both of the major party nominees will be able to begin spending General Election campaign funds much earlier than in previous years. Unfortunately, though, that likely means that the campaign will start much sooner than it would have otherwise. In the past, the summer before a Presidential election was typically a quiet period during which both party’s engaged in limited campaigning. That’s unlikely to be the case in today’s world of always-on news and constant information exchange on the Internet.

Of course for political reporters this means a week in Cleveland followed by a week in Philadelphia. They may as well follow it up with a visit to Detroit and complete the trifecta.

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. C. Clavin says:

    Philadelphia in July. Didn’t something significant happen in Philadelphia in July a while back?
    Frankly it’s a camparison I would shy away from.
    The idea that today’s politicians, on either side, could accomplish anything the likes of which was accomplished there in the 18th Century is laughable.

  2. superdestroyer says:

    Maybe the Democrats looked at the polling data and the computer models and realized that there is no way they can lose in 2016. So, why spend a week in Columbus Ohio when one can stay along the east coast and the MSM can operate out of NYC.

  3. I’m going to bet is as much about logistics as anything else. Columbus doesn’t really have the infrastructure for a major convention. New York City is a megaopolis and the proposed convention site was in Brooklyn, not at Madison Square Garden as in previous years that NYC has hosted party conventions. Philadelphia has done this before — most recently in 2000 with the RNC — and its convention center is located outside Center City in an area with plenty of parking and easy access to the airport.

  4. Moosebreath says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    “and its convention center is located outside Center City in an area with plenty of parking and easy access to the airport.”

    No, the Convention Center is downtown, less than a half-mile from City Hall. The 2000 RNC convention was held, and this one will presumably be held, in the Core States Wachovia Wells Fargo Center, where the Sixers and Flyers play. It’s located adjacent to the other sports arenas for the Phillies and Eagles.

    This won’t affect the Eagles much, even though they are in training camp, as that’s about a mile away and thus likely outside the cordoned off area. The Phillies will likely need a long road trip, though.

  5. Pinky says:

    New York was probably too corporate for the image they’ll be going for, and Ohio is already taken. Of the three, Philly is the smartest choice.

  6. michael reynolds says:

    The one consolation is that the Republicans have it worse. Cleveland? Who would want to go to any of these cities? Why not Baltimore or Detroit or Anchorage while we’re at it?

    Go to Vegas or LA. You get sun, and you’re going to get a much better class of hooker. Any hooker working out of Cleveland or Philadelphia is just not trying very hard.

    Or why not Honolulu? Yeah, it messes up the media cycle, but at least you’re not in Philly or Cleveland. Or how about Austin? It would have been ballsy for Democrats to go to the blue dot in the middle of red Texas. Or why not Seattle, I think they have a few days without rain in July, and the legal weed would have to improve the atmosphere. Isn’t it time we traded drunk electors for stoned electors? We could get a plank in the platform that just read, “Have you ever looked, I mean really looked, at, like, your hand?”

    Philadelphia, jeez. All those convention-goers pretending to like the gooey, salty mess that is the cheesesteak. Bleah.

  7. An Interested Party says:

    The one consolation is that the Republicans have it worse. Cleveland? Who would want to go to any of these cities? Why not Baltimore or Detroit or Anchorage while we’re at it?

    Well, there are few places that can compare with the paradise that is the San Francisco Bay Area, alas…

  8. Neil Hudelson says:

    @michael reynolds:

    I believe Cleveland’s very lax standards on activities that take place in strip clubs may have been a big contributing factor.

    Or, in case my wife is reading, that’s what my friends have told me. Back in the day. Before I met you.

  9. edmondo says:

    Why not choose Wall Street instead? At least Clinton’s supporters wouldn’t have to go too far

  10. Moosebreath says:

    @michael reynolds:

    “Philadelphia, jeez. All those convention-goers pretending to like the gooey, salty mess that is the cheesesteak.”

    That’s OK — if you don’t want a cheesesteak, we’ll save some scrapple for you. At least it’s not gooey.

  11. Gustopher says:

    I will happily support any location that does not involve the hateful Barclay’s center in Brooklyn. They destroyed my favorite bar, Freddy’s, as part of that “redevelopment”. They brought Frank Ghery onto the project just long enough to get approval, and then dumped him, so it’s not even an architecturally interesting fiasco.

    Everyone involved should be handed over to ISIS as a new set of hostages. I hear ISIS still has one American, they might trade for a bunch of Americans.

    Anyway, I miss that bar.

    Bastards. I hate them all. It was a really good bar.

  12. al-Ameda says:

    @edmondo:

    Why not choose Wall Street instead? At least Clinton’s supporters wouldn’t have to go too far

    Well as long as we’re going to be in Manhattan, the Republicans might as well change their mind on Cleveland, and move their convention to the living room of the Koch Brothers.

  13. bill says:

    @edmondo: true, but it’s always sunny in …..you know.
    they’ll win ny so it’s no bfd.