RNC approves Milwaukee as 2024 convention host

Milwaukee will host the 2024 Republican National Convention, committee chair Ronna McDaniel announced Friday.

“I am excited to announce that the RNC has voted unanimously to select Milwaukee as the host city for the 2024 Republican National Convention!” McDaniel tweeted. “Milwaukee is a world-class city, and we are eager to see it shine in the spotlight come 2024."

Milwaukee was recommended by a GOP site selection panel in mid-July and formally chosen as the host city during the RNC’s August meeting this week in Chicago. Milwaukee and Nashville were both floated as host cities, but the Tennessee capital lost out after two city council members pulled the draft agreement to host the convention from the council’s agenda at the last minute.

The GOP’s choice of Wisconsin puts the party's nominating convention in a key battleground state. Former President Donald Trump won the state in 2016 but lost it to President Joe Biden in 2020 by less than a percentage point.

The Democratic National Committee also selected Milwaukee to hold its convention in 2020, though it was a mostly virtual format due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

McDaniel told Fox News on the eve of the RNC’s vote that Wisconsin’s position as a bellwether state was a factor in the RNC considering it to host its presidential nominating convention.

"It is a purple state," McDaniel told Fox. "It is exactly the voters that we are trying to bring into our party, and they have done such a great job. We're excited not only to elect our future president out of Milwaukee as a Republican, but we're excited to showcase a wonderful city and a wonderful state."