Chicago to host 2024 Democratic National Convention

By Ethan Cohen and Jeff Zeleny, CNN

Chicago will host the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the Democratic National Committee announced Tuesday.

The convention will be held from August 19-22, 2024.

In its announcement, the DNC called the Midwest a “critical Democratic stronghold” that helped President Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election.

“I am thrilled that Democrats will take the stage in Chicago to share our party’s vision and values,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said. “The Midwest reflects America and will give Democrats an opportunity to showcase some of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s most significant accomplishments for American families.”

Chicago beat out the other two finalists, Atlanta and New York.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pledge to finance the Democratic convention — through fundraising and his own wealth — provided a key edge to Chicago, officials said.

At the same time, Georgia’s GOP caused worry — largely because the state has partial control of the arena and would be under no obligation to bend to Democratic concerns on guns, etc, officials said.

The Chicago decision was also supported by top Democrats in neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan — two critical pieces of Biden’s blue wall — and is seen as a stronger place to “celebrate progressives and fight for abortion rights and other priorities,” an official said.

While Chicago gun violence has been a concern — and the new untested mayor — the White House concluded Chicago outweighed Atlanta from logistics to political considerations, an official said.

“The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago will welcome people from across the nation to an unforgettable event highlighting our party’s vision for lifting up working families and those who too often have been left out and left behind,” Pritzker said.

Biden, while on his way to Air Force One ahead of his trip to Ireland, called the governor to tell him Chicago would be “his convention city,” Pritzker told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Tuesday night.

“I told him how thrilled that we were and how we’re going to put on the best convention that the Democratic Party has ever had and it will be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ convention,” he said.

The Democratic governor dismissed concerns about the president’s age, telling Collins that “what matters is what you can get done for working families across the United States.”

Historically, conventional wisdom has held that Chicago was the best place to nominate a presidential candidate. This will be the 26th major political nominating convention held in the Windy City, but the first since Democrats renominated Bill Clinton there in 1996.

The Republican National Convention will be held in Milwaukee in July 2024.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Jack Forrest contributed to this story.