Democratic Party still hopes to hold ‘in-person’ convention in August – New York Post

The Democratic Party still expects to hold an in-person convention to nominate Joe Biden for president.

The event is currently scheduled to take place in Milwaukee during the week of Aug. 17. Exact dates are unclear since party brass scrapped the original plans to host the convention from July 13-16.

We expect to hold an in-person convention in Milwaukee. We are planning for that, Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez told reporters Thursday. At the same time, we do not put our public health heads in the sand. We dont do that right now. We wont do that in the run-up.

Perez left open the idea that part of the convention would be conducted virtually but was hopeful that it will be safe to congregate at the designated venue, the Milwaukee Bucks basketball arena, by August.

Wisconsin has confirmed more than 5,000 coronavirus cases and more than 250 related deaths, with stay-at-home order running until May 26 under Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat.

Biden has been less optimistic, speculating the entire event might have to be virtual.

Party conventions can draw tens of thousands over the course of several days. Some Democrats have suggested that a limited crowd could attend, while the roughly 4,700 delegates would stick to an online gathering.

I am hopeful that we can have a very exciting convention in Milwaukee where we can highlight the vice president and his history-making running mate, whoever she turns out to be, Perez said, referring to Bidens pledge to select a woman running mate.

Republicans, meanwhile, have projected much more confidence that they will be able to host their party convention just a week later in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Aug. 24-27.

With Post wires

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Democratic Party still hopes to hold 'in-person' convention in August - New York Post