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When New Orleans consultant James Carville sat for an interview with LaPolitics during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, he said he often wonders how much longer these grand political spectacles will last.
Several square miles of downtown Chicago were locked down for Democrats, and the same treatment was afforded to Republicans in Milwaukee this summer, creating logistical nightmares for commuters and significantly less foot traffic for mom-and-pop businesses.
“These things have become a form of security theater,” said Carville. “There’s a lot of rigmarole, more rigmarole than anything else.”
Then there’s the money involved. Twenty years ago, the U.S. Justice Department began awarding host cities $50 million grants to cover security needs.
Ahead of this year’s conventions, however, the tally was increased to $75 million per host city, at the request of officials in Chicago, Milwaukee and Houston, where the 2028 Republican National Convention will be held, according to Jeff Fleming, who directs communications for the city of Milwaukee.
Combined, that means taxpayers on the federal level footed a security bill of $150 million this year.
“That covered our costs,” Fleming says. “There were other activities not eligible for grant funding, but those were modest and absorbed within existing city budgets.”
While tourism officials in Milwaukee are still working on an economic impact estimate, they are hopeful they met their preconvention target of $200 million, says Claire Koenig with Visit Milwaukee, the city’s tourism bureau.
Isaac Reichman, director of corporate communications for Choose Chicago, the Windy City’s tourism arm, says officials are working with the DNC Host Committee on an economic impact analysis, but it will not be completed until later this year.
“We can say that previous political conventions have had an economic impact of $150 million to $200 million on the host city,” Reichman says.
Fortunately for both cities, their taxpayers aren’t on the hook. The RNC Host Committee raised north of $85 million for the Milwaukee convention, well above its initial $70 million goal. Chicago’s DNC Host Committee raised a record $94 million, making this year’s convention the most expensive on record for Dems.
Of course, the irony is Democrats spent an unprecedented amount of cash to hold a convention where delegates didn’t even carry out their core duty, which was nominating a presidential candidate. Instead, Vice President Kamala Harris was added to the top of the ballot using a preconvention Zoom meeting of delegates.
Republicans, meanwhile, championed economic development while cheering on former President Donald Trump. Some businesses in downtown Milwaukee, by comparison, haven’t done much cheering in the wake of a week of incredibly slow commerce. Lupis and Iris, a popular Milwaukee restaurant, even shut its doors during the convention’s peak because conventioneers were nowhere to be found.
Derek Babcock, chair of the Louisiana GOP and a delegate to this year’s RNC, acknowledges modern conventions are “more of a formality” these days. A convention just offers an opportunity to discuss the party’s values and vision.
“It’s really a stage show,” he says.
As for security, the safety needs are what they are, Babcock says. But it’s probably time to ask whether taxpayers should foot a $150 million bill, especially with the parties conducting their own fundraising, he adds.
“At the end of the day, it’s a private party,” he says.
Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, a Louisiana delegate to this year’s DNC, says the value of a convention goes well beyond the few hours of primetime television that most people see. Convention-goers have a chance to meet, learn from and strategize with their party colleagues in other states.
Lewis argues that paying for convention security is an appropriate federal expense, noting the wide array of federal officials on hand, including members of Congress and current and former presidents.
“What happens if the United Center had a terrorist attack?” Lewis asks. “We would say, ‘Where was the federal response?’”
While Republicans have already selected Houston for their next convention in 2028, Democrats are still searching for a host city. Officials in Chicago, for their part, are making a hard push to host again in four years.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
