‘We Will Not Be Holding a Virtual Convention,’ RNC Chair Says

‘We Will Not Be Holding a Virtual Convention,’ RNC Chair Says
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in February 2018. (Gage SKidmore/[CC BY-SA-2.0 (ept.ms/2utDIe9)])
Mimi Nguyen Ly
5/18/2020
Updated:
5/18/2020

Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel said on Monday that the party “will not be holding a virtual convention” in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.

The Republican National Convention scheduled for Aug. 24-27 in Charlotte, North Carolina, will be carried out at least partly in-person, she said.

“It’s quite a ways away, and there’s ample time for us to adjust, if necessary,” McDaniel said on a call with reporters about election lawsuits, reported The Associated Press.

The RNC is set to formally choose President Donald Trump as its nominee at the event.

When asked about the possibility of the Minnesota Republican Party’s online convention being disrupted by hackers, she responded: “We will not be holding a virtual convention.”

The RNC has hired a medical adviser for the convention, and McDaniel said the party will need to consult with the Charlotte mayor and North Carolina governor on logistics.

Democrat Convention

Democrats have moved their national convention, planned to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July to August.

It is currently unclear whether the event will be entirely online.

A New York Times report on Monday said that “many” of the Democratic delegates “don’t want to go.”

“The vast majority of them don’t want to risk their own health or the health of others by traveling to Milwaukee and congregating inside the convention facilities,” the paper reported, citing interviews it conducted with 59 members of the DNC and superdelegates. Just nine delegates indicated they are planning to attend the convention in person.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States has recorded more than 1.5 million cases of the CCP virus, and over 90,000 deaths.
Trump on Monday said that he has been taking the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, and zinc, in efforts to prevent being infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.
The disease emerged from Wuhan, China, in early December 2019. Chinese health officials were drawing up plans to combat the CCP virus, which they knew to be infectious days before they informed the public about its potential to spread, according to internal government documents obtained by The Epoch Times.
The president last month halted funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) until his administration completes a review over the United Nations agency’s response to the CCP virus crisis. He also said at the time that the WHO may have “misled” the United States amid the outbreak. On Saturday, he said that the United States is considering giving the WHO no more than China does. Currently, the funding is still frozen.
More than 100 nations have joined a coalition, led by Australia and the European Union, to call for an independent inquiry into the origin of the CCP virus and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) response to the outbreak.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.