GOP nearing deal to bring 2020 convention to Charlotte: report

Republican officials are reportedly finalizing a deal to make Charlotte, N.C., the site of the party’s 2020 convention. 

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Republicans have moved away from Las Vegas and settled on Charlotte as their top choice for the convention expected to nominate President Trump for a second term.

The report notes that David Bossie and Ronald Kaufman are among the top choices to be the convention’s chairman. Bossie was the deputy campaign manager during Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016, and Kaufman is a national committeeman from Massachusetts.

{mosads}The Charlotte City Council will hold a meeting next week to approve the deal, according to the Journal. 

Charlotte hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2012, when the party nominated then-President Obama for a second term. 

The Republican National Committee is also scheduled to vote on the site at a quarterly meeting later this month. 

“We are still in negotiations and talks continue with more than one city,“ Kaufman told the Journal. ”Several steps remain before a city is selected.”

The Journal reports that Trump has privately voiced interest in having the Republican convention in Las Vegas. 

But advisers to the president were concerned about nominating a president in a town often referred to as “sin city.” They also feared having the convention in Las Vegas would make it difficult for it to be the city’s main attraction, considering millions of people visit the city every year. 

Democrats, meanwhile, are down to three finalists for their own 2020 convention: Houston; Miami Beach, Fla. and Milwaukee.