The Republican National Convention pullout: Who are the winners and losers?
Three late-night tweets from President Donald Trump apparently put an abrupt halt to nearly two years of planning and preparation for this year’s Republican National Convention in Charlotte.
Just weeks before workers were going to start a major renovation of The Spectrum Center and less than three months before as many as 50,000 people were set to converge on Charlotte, Trump pulled the plug Tuesday night.
Trump put the blame on Gov. Roy Cooper for not allowing a full house amid the new coronavirus pandemic.
So who will come out on top? And at the bottom?
WINNERS
1. Health advocates: Convention organizers once appeared willing to enact social distancing and other protocols. That ended when Trump called Cooper last week and asked for a fully packed arena and no masks or social distancing. A petri dish convention was the last thing health experts, and many people who worry about the COVID-19, had wanted with cases still on the rise in North Carolina.
2. Cooper: At least in the eyes of Democratic voters, he stood up to the president by standing on principal and for public health. Polls show he’s had broad support to his measured response to the pandemic. But he’ll be blasted by Republicans — and maybe some business owners — for “losing” the convention and costing the state millions in lost business.
3. Vi Lyles: The convention was never popular with Charlotte’s Democratic base and the mayor had seen some Democratic colleagues on the city council oppose her on it. In the inevitable second guessing, few are likely to point at her.
4. Dan Forest: The GOP lieutenant governor gets an issue he’ll try to make resonate with the party base and some swing voters as he faces off against Cooper in November in the gubernatorial race.
LOSERS
1. The hospitality industry: The convention would have been a $150 million-plus lifeline for an industry battered by closings caused by the cornavirus pandemic. Hotels would have been full and restaurants and bars packed. Now they won’t be.
2. GOP convention organizers: They worked for almost two years, moving to Charlotte and taking leave from their old jobs. They had big plans to transform the Spectrum Center into a glitzy stage for a second term coronation. Now they have to pack up and try to pull off the same thing in another city in less than three months.
3. N.C. Republicans: They looked at the convention, with all the hoopla and media attention as a way not only to renominate a president but boost their chances in a critical swing state, with big races for the U.S. Senate and governor. Now another state will get all the attention.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 10:40 PM.
