CHARLOTTE — Republican officials will be largely confined to the Westin Hotel in uptown Charlotte -- which will be like the “NBA Bubble” -- when the business portion of the Republican National Convention comes to town later this month.
Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris, Republican National Convention Senior Advisor for Health and Safety Planning Dr. Jeffrey Runge and CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings briefed the Charlotte City Council Monday night on the latest plans for the RNC.
The event is not the convention anyone imagined.
“It is a not a typical convention,” Harris said. “It can’t be right now, not for our community.”
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Business events will start Aug. 21 in Charlotte and have around 400 attendees. The convention is the largest sanctioned event in Charlotte since the onset of the pandemic, health officials said. Runge made it clear it will not be the big pep rally people are used to seeing on TV.
"That is not this," he said. "This is the business of the convention."
There will be numerous safety precautions in place. All attendees and workers will have to get tested for COVID-19, masks will always be required inside, and attendees will be wearing safety fobs that keep track of who they encounter.
“This is not a political plan,” Runge said. “I have been totally unresponsive to anything that sounds political.”
The Spectrum Center is not going to be used. Most of the activities are going to take place in the Westin Hotel. Delegates won’t leave it often. They’ll eat breakfast and lunch there and only venture out for dinner during the evening.
"My primary concern is not the economic benefit of Charlotte," Runge said. "I think there will be a bump, to tell you the truth. But it will be nothing like what would have occurred had there not been a pandemic."
When President Donald Trump is officially re-nominated as the Republican candidate, it will take place in the Charlotte Convention Center.
As of Monday, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are not planning on being in Charlotte, according to Jennings.
"What I can tell you is if it does change to where the president or the vice president do attend, we are prepared for that," Jennings said.
Jennings told the Charlotte City Council he expects protesters during the Charlotte RNC events. During the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the protesters didn’t stay at the protest zone and instead moved around the city by the thousands. The perimeter for the RNC will not be as intense as the DNC. Protesters also won’t be restricted.
"People will have the freedom to be about to be around the area that is secure," Jennings said.
The RNC events in Charlotte will be from Aug. 21 to 24.
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