President Trump’s reelection campaign says it has plans for both an indoor and an outdoor convention next month in Jacksonville, Fla., and that it is prepared for “all possibilities” depending on the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think what you’re seeing is that we’re preparing for all possibilities. So we have plans in place for an indoor rally convention, we have plans in place for a potential outdoor convention. And we’ll let the situation on the ground dictate where we go,” campaign spokesperson Marc Lotter said Wednesday on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
“But the one thing is we want to make sure our delegates are safe, people who are coming to participate are safe, and ultimately the world and the country gets the see the president’s message and the energy that we have for reelecting him in November.”
The remarks come about a week after the Republican National Committee announced that it is restricting attendance to the convention in Jacksonville to regular delegates for the first three days, amounting to a crowd of about 2,500 people, and expanding the crowd for the night Trump accepts the nomination to about 6,000 or 7,000. It also said the convention will include a mix of indoor and outdoor events.
The adjustments come as the GOP scrambles to comply with health guidance in a state that is one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 hotspots while still holding a celebration for Trump’s nomination. The party moved the convention to Jacksonville after Trump feuded with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) over what an in-person convention at the originally planned location of Charlotte could look like amid the pandemic.
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