DNC CEO: Expect Joe Biden to appear at Democratic convention in Milwaukee [WTMJ Town Hall]

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It is likely that some delegates and participants who would attend a normal Democratic National Convention will choose to not come to Milwaukee for the event in August due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But the CEO of Milwaukee 2020, Joe Solmonese, says you shouldn’t think presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden will be among the no-shows who would instead participate remotely.

“I think most certainly Joe Biden comes to Milwaukee for the convention,” Solmonese told WTMJ’s John Mercure during Tuesday’s WTMJ Town Hall.

He believes so because of the importance Wisconsin holds in what many Democrats believe is one of the most critical elections in modern times.

“Wisconsin remains a very center of the battleground. This is important…that we really be grounded in Wisconsin and that he be there,” he said.

“It’s where we fell short in ’16. It’s very likely where this election will be decided. We decided to be here, organize here and use this as an organizing opportunity to move in the Presidential election.”

However, Solmonese believes we should not expect a fully expected convention in mid-August, a date chosen after the pandemic struck the United States leading to close to 92,000 deaths nationwide as of Tuesday afternoon.

“Common sense would dictate we’ll have fewer people. We’re doing the best that we can to gauge what that number will look like. We’re going to take the next month to get our arms around that,” he says, explaining that seven states so far have told him they can expect all delegates to come to Milwaukee.

“By the time the delegate selection process is over with, there’ll be 6,000 of them (either in-person or remotely). We’ll go state by state to get a clearer sense.”

Solmonese says that there is time before they define the scale of events within the convention, because the space is available for an August event.

“I don’t think there’s a drop dead date,” he said. “It’s more various stakeholders, whether it’s stakeholders, our progressive partners, our friends in labor, other important folks that are going to be coming…we’ve already scaled back in our thinking with some of the very big numbers. It’s easier to scale back up again if we find the numbers are bigger.”