Even though Gov. DeSantis clearly wants it to happen in Florida, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings seems cold on the idea. Demings told ClickOrlando yesterday night that he hasn’t been asked about it at all yet, and explaining a little further, seeming to be diplomatically saying no:
“I believe that a convention will likely have a lot of demonstrations and protests there. So any community that endeavors to host it, they gotta take the good with the bad, and there would be significant cost there, and I would not ask my commissioners to support bringing it here if we didn’t think that we could be reimbursed 100% of the cost of hosting and that’s a big unknown,”
The nominating convention set for late August may well end up being in Florida anyway. Another host possibility thrown out by the anonymous sources is Jacksonville. And Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry made it very clear this week that he is more than willing to give Trump the rally-style convention he desires.
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This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2020.