The Republican Party will host its 2020 presidential nominating convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Republican National Convention Site Selection Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously in a closed session to select the Queen City to host the convention.
The 168-member RNC delegation made it official with a vote Friday.
In a candid question-and-answer segment organized by Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari, site selection chair Ron Kaufman went into detail about the circumstances leading to Friday's vote. He said he sent letters to 30 cities and seven expressed interest in hosting the convention.
From those seven, Charlotte and Las Vegas stood out.
Kaufman said that the thing he loved most about Charlotte was the fact that, from elected officials to Uber drivers, everyone seemed to be passionate about the city. He admitted that he kept a close eye on Monday's Charlotte City Council meeting, when city leaders approved the framework to host Republican leaders.
Kaufman said he was surprised that most of the speakers were in favor of hosting the convention. He said he wasn’t worried about possible protests or security issues because he sees Cleveland as a more partisan city than Charlotte, and there were only 27 arrests there.
“There is so much time and effort being put in to make sure Charlotte will be the safest city in America that week,” Kaufman said.
Doug Lebda, the CEO of LendingTree, an online lending exchange company based in Charlotte, was also in Texas. He said every major convention and trade show will be looking at Charlotte, since the city will have landed both the Democratic and the Republican national conventions.
The Associated Press and the Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.
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