Pence floats sending GOP convention to Texas as Trump rails at N.C. for ongoing COVID-19 restrictions

WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence floated the possibility of moving the GOP convention to Texas on Monday, as North Carolina’s governor refused to promise to lift public health restrictions in time for the mass gathering planned for Charlotte in August.

Both Dallas and Houston have hosted national party conventions and came close to hosting them again in recent years.

President Donald Trump has railed for days at Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, accusing him of moving too slowly to ease stay-home orders meant to blunt the COVID-19 outbreak.

Cooper “is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed … to head to beautiful North Carolina in August,” Trump tweeted on Monday, demanding the governor say “immediately” whether the arena can be “fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site.”

The demand came two days after North Carolina recorded about 1,100 news coronavirus cases, its largest daily spike since the pandemic began. The number of hospitalizations hit a new peak on Monday.

In an interview on Fox & Friends, Pence echoed Trump’s demand for guarantees from North Carolina — and mentioned Texas, Florida and Georgia as possible alternatives.

Cooper’s office responded to Trump and Pence on Monday by saying: “State health officials are working with the RNC and will review its plans as they make decisions about how to hold the convention in Charlotte. North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our state’s public health and safety.”

Trump has lauded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for lifting restrictions quickly.

Houston was a runner-up to Milwaukee for this year’s Democratic convention. The city hosted the Republicans in 1992, when the incumbent president, hometown favorite George H.W. Bush, accepted the nomination at the Astrodome.

With the pandemic raging in early April, Democrats postponed this year’s start date from an unusually early July 13 to Aug. 17. The GOP convention starts Aug. 24.

“These national conventions literally take many months to organize and prepare,” Pence said. “And, you know, there are states around the country. We think of Texas, we think of Florida, Georgia — the last two states I visited last week that have made tremendous progress on reopening their communities and reopening their economies.”

Trump, he said, “is absolutely intent” on having Republicans convene “in a safe and responsible venue” and he called the demand for assurances from North Carolina “very reasonable.”

“We all want to be in Charlotte. We love North Carolina. But having a sense now is absolutely essential because of the immense preparations that are involved. And we look forward to working with Gov. Cooper, getting a swift response, and if needs be, moving the national convention to a state that is farther along on reopening and can say with confidence that we can gather there.”

At the Texas Democratic Party, communications director Abhi Rahman, said: “It doesn’t matter where the RNC holds their convention, Donald Trump’s historic unpopularity is going to cause him to lose Texas. Nobody wants Trump in Texas. We recommend Trump host the RNC at one of his golf clubs.”

Both parties have wrestled with uncertainty over the COVID-19 outbreak, with large gatherings still considered unsafe.

Roughly 50,000 delegates, journalists and others typically descend on a host city during the four-day conventions.

Democrats picked Milwaukee in March 2019. Houston, Denver and Miami were the other finalists.

Republicans named Charlotte in July 2018. The city was also the site of the 2008 Democratic convention, when Barack Obama accepted the nomination.