TAMPA, Fla. — Speaking at a press conference in Miami on Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida would "love" to host the Republican or Democratic National Convention.
"Florida would love to have the RNC," DeSantis said. "Heck, I'm a Republican, it would be good for us to have the DNC in terms of the economic impact."
The RNC is currently set to take place in North Carolina, August 24 - 27, but on Monday the president threatened to pull the event from the state if the governor doesn't sign off on allowing full-capacity gatherings in August.
I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August. Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
While the DNC is set to take place in Wisconsin, August 17 - 20.
DeSantis said the state lost revenue from events that ended up being canceled because of the pandemic, like WrestleMania, and said hosting the event would have a huge economic impact.
WrestleMania was scheduled to take place in Tampa on April 5 at Raymond James, but instead took place on a closed set at a training facility in Orlando due to the coronavirus.
"We lost out on some of our traditional events that we normally do," DeSantis said.
DeSantis said he hasn't talked to President Trump himself about Florida hosting the RNC, but said he let White House officials know the state wants to "work with them."
"Florida wants to work with you. If you're a business, if you're a sports team, if you have some of these events — we want to work with you to get to yes," DeSantis said on Tuesday.
DeSantis mentioned some of the state's major cities as places that could hold something like the RNC or DNC. Including Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville as possibilities if it were to happen.
"The door is open, we want to have the conversation. Whether it's RNC, DNC, whatever, because I think it would be good for the people of Florida." DeSantis said.
