The Democratic convention has been pushed back from mid-July to mid-August due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced Thursday. Originally scheduled to be held in Milwaukee from July 13–17, the convention will instead take place the week of August 17 — at least, that’s the plan for now.
“In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach is to take additional time to monitor how this situation unfolds so we can best position our party for a safe and successful convention,” Democratic National Convention CEO Joe Solmonese said in a statement. “During this critical time, when the scope and scale of the pandemic and its impact remain unknown, we will continue to monitor the situation and follow the advice of health-care professionals and emergency responders.”
Calls to delay the convention have increased in recent days, with former vice-president and likely nominee Joe Biden calling for moving it to August on Wednesday night in an interview with Jimmy Fallon. The Republican convention is set for late August in Charlotte.
Despite the announcement, there’s no guarantee the convention will take place in August. Indeed, the press release announcing the move hints that further changes could be coming:
The convention planning team will now use the coming weeks to further explore all options to ensure nominating the next president of the United States is done with unnecessary risk to public health. These options include everything from adjusting the convention’s format to crowd size and schedule.
Virtual convention, anyone?
