{"id":40296,"date":"2025-07-05T08:22:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/40296\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T08:22:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:22:44","slug":"mayor-courts-2028-democratic-national-convention-to-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/40296\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor courts 2028 Democratic National Convention to San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of her first moves since taking office, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is asking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to choose San Antonio for the party\u2019s 2028 national convention.<\/p>\n

Both Democrats and Republicans host a national convention before each presidential election, drawing tens of thousands of party faithful to formally nominate their candidates for president and vice president and kick off their political efforts. <\/p>\n

The events also draw major media attention and tourism dollars to their host cities, which compete hard for the privilege of being chosen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur city \u2014 bold, inclusive, and emblematic of the American future \u2014 would be a fitting and inspiring home for this historic event,\u201d Jones wrote in a July 1 letter<\/a> to DNC Chair Ken Martin and executive director Alex Hornbrook.<\/p>\n

Jones has many national political connections from her two congressional races and her time as the Biden Administration\u2019s Air Force Under Secretary.<\/p>\n

Her ask comes as Martin and the DNC have also signaled renewed interest Texas, where big investments over numerous election cycles have done little to shift<\/a> the politics of a red state. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump carried<\/a> Texas by 14 percentage points in 2024, and even reliably blue parts of the state have been shifting away from Democrats<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, both parties agree that broader population shifts have made the state a perpetual battleground for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of the Democratic Party runs through Texas,\u201d Martin told the New York Times<\/a> on a February visit to Houston.<\/p>\n

A DNC spokesperson did not respond to questions about San Antonio\u2019s bid to host the 2028 convention in time for publication Thursday. <\/p>\n

The Republican National Committee has already<\/a> announced plans to host its 2028 national convention in Houston \u2014 after an unusually early selection process.<\/p>\n

Democrats have had few bright spots to point to last November\u2019s GOP wave, but Jones\u2019 decisive victory<\/a> over an opponent with ties<\/a> to state GOP leaders last month was a rallying point for state and national party leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Antonio is known for two things: compassion and common sense,\u201d Jones said in her DNC letter, mirroring some of her reflections after the mayor\u2019s race. \u201cOur residents are warm, welcoming, and proud of the cultural richness that defines our city and the future of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hefty price tag<\/p>\n

Despite San Antonio\u2019s reputation as a tourism powerhouse, the city has never hosted a national convention for either political party.<\/p>\n

The Republican National Committee approached local officials about coming here in 2020, but the left-leaning City Council<\/a> turned it down amid concerns about logistics and potential backlash to a \u201cdivisive\u201d Trump administration descending on blue city.<\/p>\n

That year a group of local business leaders had pledged to raise the roughly $70 million price tag noted in the RNC\u2019s request for proposals, and were outraged when then-Mayor Ron Nirenberg declined what they saw as a major revenue generating opportunity.<\/p>\n

Two years later San Antonio hosted<\/a> the Republican Party of Texas\u2019 convention, which the city bid for against Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Like other major events, national political conventions come with big upfront costs that cities must weigh against the potential tourism dollars.<\/p>\n

Chicago reportedly spent about $75 million<\/a> to host Democrats\u2019 national convention in 2024, and the city\u2019s tourism arm said the event generated about $371.4 million in economic impact.<\/p>\n

Visit San Antonio, which has been helping with the city\u2019s application process, estimated the 2028 convention would bring about $127 million in direct spending, and about $250 million in total economic impact.<\/p>\n

Jones said Thursday that it\u2019s still early in the application process, and details about fundraising and a potential bid committee would be hashed out later if the DNC signals interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a fundraising component to this \u2026 but I think as the DNC is looking at considering a wider range of communities than is previously looked at, those requirements may evolve,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

If San Antonio were selected, Democrats\u2019 next presidential nominee could be named in the 60,000-seat Alamodome, which just underwent big renovations for the 2025 NCAA\u00a0Men\u2019s Final Four basketball tournament.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 letter also noted the city\u2019s ample hotel options, convention center amenities and other tourism attractions, which she said offer \u201can unparalleled visitor experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously this would be a great economic opportunity,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut also a great opportunity to highlight our city as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one of her first moves since taking office, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is asking the Democratic National…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[32051,5229,32052,32053,7033,7452,7202,32054,7203,358,7453,5331,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,32055,20705],"class_list":{"0":"post-40296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-2028-presidential-election","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-democratic-national-committee","11":"tag-democratic-national-convention","12":"tag-democrats","13":"tag-gina-ortiz-jones","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-mayor","16":"tag-sanantonio","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-top-story","19":"tag-tourism","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-typedaily","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-visit-san-antonio","29":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114799663318104938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}