Democrats anxious that they won’t be able to compete with Republican convention

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Democratic party is afraid it won’t have an apt alternative over the Republicans’ planned convention in Florida.
• The DNCC raises concerns over health crises, as the party would want to avoid the spread of coronavirus.
• Due to pandemic reasons, the Democrats are planning to hold one traditional rally and another that involves an online conference.

As President Donald Trump has set a massive convention in Jacksonville, Florida, some Democrats members are ever more worried their party’s outbreak-anxious assembly won’t be able to come up with a convincing counterpart.

A Democratic insider told The Post they are anticipating a grand rally and Trump delivering a speech to a huge crowd. At the same time, the opposition will find themselves in a social-distancing scenario, where Joe Biden addresses the audience via Zoom.

The source added the scenario would not be good for Democrats: “The optics of that are just awful. The visual would suggest that momentum and excitement is on the Republican side and not ours.”

While the chairman of the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC), Tom Perez, told journalists last week the campaign team planned to go down on Milwaukee for their assembly in the third week of August, the details are yet to be discussed.

A more critical concern the Dems are facing is it’s uncertain of how many people will be permitted to enter the Fiserv Forum arena and which prominent members will attend to welcome the party.

A DNCC spokesperson told the outlet that given the concerns brought about by the pandemic, their group is still deciding on what type of gathering they will set up, noting that health and safety must be ensured.

The DNCC made it clear though that a full-scale convention, similar to what the president is preparing, is most likely not an option. In the past few weeks, party leaders have been making inquiries to staff members on their consensus about traveling in other cities to smaller-scale conventions.

“One is going to look like a traditional convention and the other is going to look very different and much more of a Google Hangout convention,” Republican strategist Evan Siegfried told The Post.

The insider added that for the very least, some Democrats are looking forward to a traditional rally, but are extra cautious of speaking about it.

The convention by the Republicans, scheduled to happen one week after the Dems would have theirs in the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, may also face opposition. Coronavirus cases have been increasing in the Sunshine State, with a recorded upsurge last week.

Despite the recent development though, GOP governor Ron DeSantis has maintained his stand to oppose further lockdown restrictions.

Meanwhile, Siegfried warned if the gathering becomes a hotspot for COVID-19 spread, it will be difficult to bounce from that. He further noted that many people are just scared, politics and parties aside.

Source: New York Post