CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ After two years of planning and millions of dollars spent, the Republican National Convention has shrunk to little more than a single day in Charlotte.
On Thursday President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the four days of celebratory pomp and speeches in Jacksonville, scheduled to take place in just a month. He cited the dangers of the coronavirus, which is surging in Florida.
GOP officials confirmed Friday that the shorter business portion of the event will still take place in Charlotte on Aug. 24. That includes the actual nominations of the president and vice president.
Trump's decision means that for the first time in almost two centuries, neither major party will hold a traditional convention. The Democratic convention will be "anchored" in Milwaukee, though most will be virtual. Delegates have been encouraged not to attend, though presumptive nominee Joe Biden is expected to accept the nomination there.
Trump is not expected to be in Charlotte. In Thursday's announcement, he said he could do "tele-rallies." A GOP official said organizers are still planning four nights of convention programming, even virtual, though details aren't final.
But Tariq Bokhari, a Republican member of the Charlotte City Council, said Friday that he wants to explore options that could bring more delegates to town.
"There is a super, super long-shot that if we could figure out as a united community how to balance health and safety concerns alongside the economic needs of our businesses and hospitality workers, we might be able to come up with a plan that everybody could live with," he said.
That's unlikely.
"At the RNC's request we have been preparing and planning for a scaled-down RNC event," Mayor Vi Lyles said in a statement. "We have committed to hosting a scaled down event and that is what we are going to do. The city does not intend to and will not incur any costs in support of the convention beyond the reduced budget, which was approved by the Department of Justice."
Democratic council member Malcolm Graham was more direct. "I will not support any expansion of the RNC in Charlotte," he tweeted. "We agreed to a business meeting of 300 delegates or less, and that is what they will get."
In a letter this week to party and convention officials, City Attorney Patrick Baker said, "(I)t is absolutely critical that the Charlotte portion of the Convention remain a substantially scaled down event."
In the letter, Baker said the city has incurred security-related costs of $16.7 million. That would come out of a $50 million federal grant.
The security costs are on top of the money spent by the host committee and the Committee on Arrangements, the party's convention planning arm. The host committee has raised at least $37 million, according to The Charlotte Business Journal, and spent much of it.
The COA itself has spent $6.1 million through June on salaries, consultants and travel, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
And the Jacksonville host committee had collected $6 million and had another $20 million in commitments, The New York Times reported Friday.
Organizers expect around 330 delegates in Charlotte. But that may be problematic.
An executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper limits the size of crowds at indoor gatherings to 10. It's unclear whether that order will be extended when it expires Aug. 7.
Political parties have held nominating conventions since 1831, when the Anti-Masons gathered in Baltimore. The National Republicans gathered there later that year and Democrats held their first convention in 1832. This year both conventions could be largely virtual.
"It's quite historic," said UNC Charlotte historian David Goldfield. "Ever since then parties have gotten together in one form or another (for a) convention."
Davidson College political scientist Susan Roberts said like North Carolina, even the president, who had pushed for a full convention in Charlotte before opting for Jacksonville, came to realize the health risks of a pandemic worked against a full, in-person gathering.
"The risks," she said, "would have outweighed the short-term gains."
State Democratic Party spokesman Austin Cook ridiculed the president's decision. He called it "perfectly representative of how Donald Trump has managed the federal response to the pandemic _ botched from top to bottom and entirely the president's own doing."
Rock Hill's Glenn McCall, a member of the Republican National Committee and one of the convention organizers, said delegates have come to accept that the pandemic rules out big gatherings.
"We're all disappointed," he said. "The delegates and the grassroots were all looking forward to it. But for safety and caution I believe it's the right thing."
