In less than three months, the Republican National Convention is, for the moment anyway, scheduled to bring 50,000 visitors and $121 million worth of related spending to Charlotte.
But, on Tuesday night, just after 9 p.m., President Donald Trump seemed to put a dagger in the city’s prospects of keeping the convention.
He concluded a series of tweets by writing, “Because of @NC_Governor, we are now forced to seek another State to host the 2020 Republican National Convention.” He attributed the decision to pursue an alternate site to N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper’s “Shelter-in-Place Mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised.”
The convention was awarded 20 months before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down much of the American economy and ushered in strict limits on crowds to reduce virus spread.
Within an hour, Cooper fired back on Twitter. “We have been committed to a safe RNC convention in North Carolina and it’s unfortunate they never agreed to scale down and make changes to keep people safe,” the governor wrote. “Protecting public health and safety during this pandemic is a priority.”
Tourism industry executives and advocates said throughout the day Tuesday they still believe Charlotte has a chance to keep the RNC here this summer despite the threats to relocate, but their confidence is, to put it mildly, shaken.
Vinay Patel, principal at locally based SREE Hotels, reflected the somber mood within the industry Tuesday as the possibility reverberated for losing what he called “a lifeline” for the battered economy.
“I’m kind of disappointed,” Patel told CBJ, with resignation in his voice. “Everybody talks about [the impact on] hospitality. It’s much bigger than that. It’s city and state tax coffers; it’s the police department; it’s event planners.”
His reference to the police department centered on a $50 million federal grant to buy additional equipment, pay officers overtime and bring in additional help to provide security during the RNC.
SREE Hotels owns 24 hotels in the Carolinas and Ohio. Twelve are in the Charlotte area, encompassing 1,700 rooms. All are booked for the RNC, Patel said. Even after Trump’s tweet, Patel held out hope, telling CBJ that seeking another site doesn’t equate to a completed negotiation for an event that has been two years in the planning here.
“We have fought hard and long for this convention and we absolutely are not giving up yet,” said Mohammad Jenatian, Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance president. “Despite all the different statements, at least the RNC and the governor are now communicating, which gives all of us hope.”
The city of Charlotte released a statement late Tuesday: "We have yet to receive any official notification from the Republican National Committee regarding its intent for the location of the convention. We have a contract in place with the RNC to host the convention and the City Attorney will be in contact with the attorneys for the RNC to understand their full intentions."
Mayor Vi Lyles, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance did not respond to requests for comment.
Just before Trump tweeted Tuesday, Patel sent a series of text messages to the mayor and seven council members scolding them for the possible loss of the convention.
“I am shocked that we as a city have not fought harder for all the tax revenue, jobs and [benefits the convention would bring]. I have to look at the hundreds of hourly employees that work for our company in there (sic) eyes and tell them that the light that they were looking forward to at the end of the tunnel will not be there ...”
The pandemic arrived in March and led to local and state-wide stay-at-home orders, shuttering many businesses while bringing hotel, restaurant and airline sales to a halt. According to state data released last week, leisure and hospitality sector jobs accounted for 34% of Mecklenburg’s lost jobs in March and 17% in April, or nearly 25,000 combined for those two months.
Helping the surviving but damaged businesses hang on was the main topic executives and civic boosters seized upon when asked about the fortunes of the Republican convention in a Democratic-majority city.
“My message to the RNC is please, on behalf of the 10,000 small businesses in Charlotte and the reeling hospitality industry, please stay at the table and operate in good faith to bring this to our city that needs this now more than ever,” Republican councilman Tariq Bokhari told CBJ.
Nine of the 11 council members are Democrats. Their predecessors — also a 9-2 Democratic majority — approved bringing the convention to Charlotte by a 6-5 vote in July 2018.
Malcolm Graham, a council Democrat who was not part of council in 2018, told CBJ during recent interviews that he is leery of any mass-crowd events taking place in Charlotte this summer. It would be irresponsible to risk spreading the novel coronavirus at a time when the state’s phased reopening order allows for a maximum of 10 people gathering indoors and 25 outdoors.
Those limits are likely to be relaxed later this month when phase three is enacted, but state officials have declined to speculate on when large-scale venues such as arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters could reopen. Currently, restaurants and stores must limit capacity to 50% of normal levels. Going from 10 people to 19,000 in a span of two months seems ambitious, to say the least.
A city government source told CBJ the city has spent at least $5 million to $10 million on RNC preparation so far. The convention contract is between the Republican National Committee, city and county government and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.
Throughout previous council debates about the RNC — including whether the city could end the agreement — the city attorney has consistently said it would breach contract terms. Trump is not a party to the contract.
In addition, the agreement specifies that the event will be governed by all applicable state laws. That, in effect, means Cooper, a Democrat, retains ultimate authority on public health decisions, including capacity limits.
The convention contract doesn’t include a force majeure clause, the act of God provision in some agreements allowing for an agreement to go unfulfilled due to unforeseen, extraordinary circumstances, such as a hurricane. Then, too, there is the question of whether the pandemic could be considered force majeure under the circumstances likely to face the RNC: not a cancellation but a reduction in the scope of the event.
The RNC contract mostly boils down to the local government entities providing security and venues for the convention — but does not make guarantees on how many people will attend or participate. Cooper said in his letter and again during a news conference Tuesday that the pandemic and shifting health conditions preclude making any guarantees about capacity. Trump and RNC executives have spent the past week requesting confirmation of a full-capacity event.
When asked Tuesday what capacity levels would be acceptable, Cooper said the state doesn’t have a specific number in mind. Instead, his administration will rely on trends in Covid-19 cases, virus-related deaths, hospitalizations and testing and tracing capabilities before establishing RNC safety protocols, including crowd size and social distancing.
RNC executives previously acknowledged the likelihood of pandemic-related precautions necessitating changes at the convention venues, including face coverings, but their tone and stance changed after Trump’s tweets.
“I think there’s still a certain amount of posturing going on,” Republican councilman Ed Driggs said. “I think what they’ll end up with [if the convention moves] is either a smaller convention [elsewhere] that they could have had here or, if they try to do a full-blown convention, they’ve got to get all the hotel rooms and all the other things in place. That is an incredibly tight timeframe.”
Driggs said it remains uncertain to him “whether [the RNC is] serious” about moving the convention.
Spectrum Center, the city-owned NBA arena, is the main venue for the prime-time TV speeches, including Trump’s anticipated re-nomination and bid for a second term.
Earlier Tuesday, the back and forth escalated between the RNC and Cooper. At issue: requirements for cutting capacity at the arena and other public health precautions likely to be mandated because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We had appreciated your earlier acknowledgments that a successful and safe convention would need to be scaled back to protect the health of participants as well as North Carolinians,” Cooper, a Democrat, wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to convention CEO Marcia Lee Kelly and RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “Unfortunately, it appears that has now changed.”
Kelly and McDaniel on Saturday sought “guidance” from Cooper and North Carolina by June 3 on whether a full-capacity convention could be staged. Before Cooper’s response was publicly released, Politico reported earlier Tuesday that the RNC is considering Nashville, Orlando and Las Vegas, among other cities, as possible host sites. Trump and the RNC want what they have described as a traditional convention setting with a capacity crowd in attendance.
McDaniel issued a statement soon after, saying, “We hope to still conduct the business of our convention in Charlotte, but we have an obligation to our delegates and nominee to begin visiting the multiple cities and states who have reached out in recent days about hosting an historic event to show that America is open for business.”
Those involved in the lengthy run-up to the RNC said the event is so large that they can’t stop preparations unless and until a relocation becomes official.
“If it’s canceled, we stop,” said Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners.
The uptown nonprofit is responsible for helping coordinate an ambassadors program to assist delegates, reporters and other visitors around town. Center City Partners is also spearheading a public relations campaign aimed at promoting the city’s business climate and quality of life during and after the convention.
The nonpartisan local organizing committee led by former Republican councilman John Lassiter continues its work, including a fund-raising campaign to pay for staging at the arena and other expenses. The target: $70 million. Lassiter confirmed in a text message Tuesday that more than $50 million has been raised but did not answer a question about Cooper’s letter to RNC leaders declining to guarantee a full-scale convention.
The standoff arrived as the number of Covid-19 cases in Charlotte and across North Carolina continue to increase. Mandy Cohen and Gibbie Harris, who, respectively, lead the state and county health departments, have said this week that while the growth in cases is not a surge, it does warrant concern because the higher numbers represent more disease spread than anticipated after accounting for a major expansion in testing capacity.
Mecklenburg County continues to have the most Covid-19 cases in North Carolina with 4,354 since March, including 97 virus-related deaths.