President Trump has called off the Florida portion of the 2020 Republican National Convention.
“I told my team it’s time to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida, component of the GOP convention,” Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House.
Trump added the “the timing for this event is not right” as Florida’s COVID-19 cases skyrocket.
The quadrennial gathering, where the president was due to officially accept his party’s renomination, was set to take place the week of Aug. 24-27 in the coastal city, in Florida’s northeast corner.
Instead, Trump promised Republicans would hold “telerallies” and other online events to gin up the party faithful before the Nov. 3 general election. He’d still formally address delegates and supporters before taking on presumptive 2020 Democratic standard-bearer Joe Biden in the fall, he said.
Republicans activities in Jacksonville were put in doubt as Florida struggled in recent weeks with its coronavirus pandemic response.
Last month, GOP Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry slapped a mask mandate on his residents as the virus spread across the state. Then this week, Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams said he wasn’t sure he had the money or manpower to provide security for the confab after Republican officials decided at the last minute to yank the majority of it from original host Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Republican National Committee announced in June it would transplant the festivities that traditionally surround a presidential nominee’s coronation to Florida after a prolonged public spat with Democratic leaders in North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper refused to guarantee Trump could organize a large-scale convention when he had imposed virus-related crowd restrictions on most of the state.
Trump said Thursday the party business aspect of the event would continue as planned in Charlotte.
