The Democratic National Committee postponed the presidential convention on April 2. The committee moved the event from July 13 to Aug. 17. This is a historic action, as it was the largest political event to be rescheduled due to COVID-19.
The Democratic convention will take place in Milwaukee at the Fiserv Forum the week of Aug. 17 with former Vice President, Joe Biden. The event takes place a week before the Republicans meet in Charlotte, N.C. to renominate President Donald Trump.
Biden called for a rescheduling of the convention due to coronavirus concerns surrounding the gathering of large groups of people. Biden wants to follow the words of medical experts and professionals to ensure safety of his supporters.
Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, wanted to make certain that the convention was held before the Republicans and not done virtually as it would be less likely to attract hours on the television.
Biden believes a large, in-person convention is vital to gain media coverage that could attract more supporters for the presidential candidate as they head into the final months of the general election.
There are concerns on how Biden is out of the spotlight for a long period of time and not gaining a sustained amount of coverage due to news networks focusing their reporting on the latest coronavirus updates.
A big part of Biden’s campaign is centered around older Americans. This will be a problem as travel is discouraged for that age group due to their increased vulnerability to the virus. Already the August convention is expected to be much smaller than it would have been on the original July date.
The coronavirus is also putting a halt on when Biden can search for and announce his potential running mate. Biden is planning on strategically releasing this information to draw attention away from the virus and show he is still committed to becoming the next president.
Democrats are worried that postponing the event could have created an advantage for President Trump. They are also concerned about the probability of the event happening due to the uncertainty and evolving knowledge of the coronavirus. There is no guarantee that the public health crisis will be over by August.
Many health officials have asked Perez to postpone the convention again to September, but Perez has recently told donors that there are no plans to change the dates.
