RNC ANNOUNCES MILWAUKEE AS HOST CITY FOR 2024 CONVENTION
RNC Summer Meeting
Chicago JW Marriott
August 5, 2022

[DEMOCRACY IN ACTION Transcript  |  C-SPAN video]

RNC CHAIR RONNA MCDANIEL: We, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that the 2024 Republican National Convention will be held in the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[Applause].
 
I have a whole bunch of people, I have a whole bunch of people I want to thank who are here, who have just been phenomenal, and one of them is going to speak to you in a minute.

But first Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is just outstanding;

Our site selection chair, Anne Hathaway and the whole site selection committee;

Someone that the people of Wisconsin and the RNC members might know, RNC former chair and former Chief of Staff of the White House, Reince Priebus;

Peggy William Smith, CEO of VISIT Milwaukee—and if I were any city in the country, I'd be trying to steal her away. She's amazing. I would. She's just been outstanding;

The entire Wisconsin delegation for the RNC: Chairman Paul Farrell, Committeeman Tom Schriebel and and Committeewoman Mary Pat Krueger;

Our RNC Senior Advisor, Richard Walters, Chief of Staff, Mike Reed, Cam Henderson, and all the members of the host committee who traveled here today.

We are so excited. I'm personally so excited to go to Milwaukee for our convention. In the next two years we look forward to working with the mayor and everyone in the community to make this an event that not only highlights the RNC and our nominee for 2024 but highlights the great city that Milwaukee is. We're committed to using vendors and being part of this community in a in a positive way that's going to be beneficial for everyone, because everyone's going to want to come to Milwaukee after this convention.

Now, some call it the Brew City, or the city that beer built. I was saying earlier, I don't drink, which is kind of ironic that we're going to the city, so maybe I'm going to have to start drinking. Milwaukee is also home to the world's largest outdoor music festival, and is the birthplace of Harley Davidson. We really picked a phenomenal city.

You know, political conventions are really special and uniquely American tradition. 2024 will be another chapter in long story of great moments, great speeches and great candidates. In 1984 President Reagan took the stage in Dallas and described the election as a choice between elevating America to new heights or accepting the suffocation of left wing big government, and that convention saw Ronald Reagan renominated to a successful second term. We will face a similar choice in 2024 where we will nominate a candidate to bring back that same Republican optimism and take back the White House in 2024.

I told Cavalier, he might have to cover his ears for some of that. Okay. He didn't hear any of that. But I can just say from the first moment I met this mayor, he is somebody who said, I'm going to put my city first, and the revenue that this will bring to my city, and the attention that this will bring to my city, and the help that this will bring to the people of my city, is going to be invaluable. And we are going to have a great partnership, and he is a great mayor, and I'm saying that as a Republican, so the whole world should be in shock right now, because there's a bipartisan moment happening. But please join me. Please join me in welcoming the wonderful mayor of Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson.


MAYOR CAVALIER JOHNSON: Well, good morning, everybody. And I'm so pleased to share in a moment of bipartisanship, because not just in Wisconsin, but in America, we need more of that. We need more of that. And I think that's something all of us can agree to.

So I'd like to start first by expressing my appreciation to Ronna McDaniel, to Reince Priebus, to supporters on the selection committee, to the full Republican National Committee for picking Milwaukee, our city, the Cream City, the Brew City, the Fresh City, to host the Republican National Convention in 2024

Now, I may be biased because I'm the mayor, but I think you all made the right choice. Now I look forward to presenting my city to Republican delegates, to alternates and representatives of the news media as well, who will descend upon Milwaukee.

You'll find that Milwaukee is full of unexpected gems. The county executive David Crowley is here, and I'm sure you guys will have the opportunity to spend time in our wonderful Milwaukee County Parks System, which is a pearl of jewels across the entire community back in Milwaukee.

We're a friendly community, we're a welcoming community, we're industrious and we're thoughtful in Milwaukee as well. And we want to share our waterfront. We want to share our riverwalks. We want you to enjoy our hotels. We want you to visit our museums. Want you to take in our natural beauty. We want you to eat at our fine restaurants. We want you to tip generously, very generously. As a matter of fact, I want you to take all your money to Milwaukee, spend it in that week and leave it there in our economy, and make sure again, that you treat our hotel staff, our workers and their convention tourism, hospitality staff, very well. They've been battered the past couple years in COVID and they could really use your support, your help.

So I'm very optimistic about the City of Milwaukee, very, very optimistic about the city's future. There are a wide range of very positive signs for Milwaukee and for its future, and the opportunity to host a major political convention is just one of those positive signs. So to all those out there say, let this be the call. Let this be the signal that we want you in Milwaukee.

If your large scale convention or sports or entertainment event, we want you in Milwaukee, if you're the NBA All Star game. Guess what? We want you in Milwaukee.  If you're the MLB All Star game. Guess what? We want you in Milwaukee. If you're the Ryder Cup again, we want you in Milwaukee. If you're the USA Triathlon, guess what? We want you in Milwaukee. If you're WWE SummerSlam, which Nashville just hosted. we want you in Milwaukee. If you're the CrossFit Games going on in Madison, Wisconsin right now, we want you in Milwaukee.

So Ronna and the RNC, you guys are the vanguard. You're welcoming everybody in. That's exactly what we want to see continue to happen in the City of Milwaukee. I want to say lastly, in closing, that Milwaukee is open for business. We are looking forward to hosting not just a great convention in 2024 for the Republicans, but we're looking forward to hosting a number of world class events with the eyes and the attention on our city in the years to come. So thank you very much.

[Applause].


REINCE PREIBUS: Thank you Mayor, and I just want to say thank you to the Republican National Committee. Thank you, Ronna, Chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, for your leadership [Applause] and what you've done for us by choosing Milwaukee. You have given, you have given, sorry, Chicago, the greatest Midwestern city on Lake Michigan, the opportunity to show the world what it means to be a Republican, what it means to be to have diversity, what it means to build a party together and a community together, to show the people of Wisconsin and the country that we are the party of the future.

And I will tell you it's a different role, being chair of the host committee. It's basically go raise a lot of money, go raise a lot of money. But one thing that Ronna and I are pretty good at is raising a lot of money, and we're going to do that.

This will be, this will be a first convention in person since Cleveland. So when this happens, it will be the first time that we're coming together as a team. And Milwaukee is the perfect place to go. It's a battleground state. It matters. I know sometimes we debate it. It matters, because you know, all the work that Ronna has done, you've done, and Tommy and the whole team, you're going to be in this community, as Ronna has said last night, not just during the two weeks in two years, you're going to be there, doing community events, going to fundraisers. You already have a full time office, which is incredible, but you're going to be living in part of the great state of Wisconsin.

And the last thing is, we're going to win. And like Vince Lombardi said, winning isn't everything. It's the only thing, and that's what a convention is all about, which is electing a president of the United States. So thank you Ronna, thank you Mayor and the entire Republican National Committee.


RONNA MCDANIEL: So now we are going to sign... and they're going to help us sign.  This is making it official guys...