MKE 2024 Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus and DNC National Committeeman Alex Lasry say bipartisan convention cooperation is a win for heavily Dem host city Milwaukee, though which party will see a bigger boost in the polls is up for debate.
The two at a WisPolitics luncheon in Washington, D.C., Tuesday said the 2024 Republican National Convention is a chance for candidates to draw distinctions between each party. Priebus, who previously served as Republican National Committee chair, argued the convention city is important because the event “can turn a purple state where only 20,000 people will decide who those electoral votes will go to.”
“You can fly in and fly out, and whatever happens, happens; raise your money nationally and get in and get out,” he added. “That’s not gonna make a difference. You play it right, you do the right thing, you promote the city, and you take to heart what the job is, I think it will make a huge difference.”
Lasry countered the convention is a chance for Dems to draw a distinction between their policies and Republicans’.
“I think this is a time where we can say, ‘Look, this is what Republicans are advocating, for
this is what we’re advocating for,’ and leave it up to voters to make that decision,” Lasry said.
Regardless of who gets a boost at the polls in 2024, Lasry and Priebus said the event will draw tens of thousands to Milwaukee and provide a roughly $200 million economic boost to the state’s most populous city.
Lasry said the organizers and city leaders are working together in a bipartisan effort to show the rest of the country Milwaukee is open for convention and other major event business.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the pitch materials that we used for 2020 were just changing the D to the R and tried to do that,” he said. “But I think most importantly, what we showed in 2020 was that we can host this — and whether COVID took away our ability to actually have the big convention — the fact that we were awarded it showed that we could do it.”
Priebus added without bipartisan help from Milwaukee government and business leaders, the convention would not be a success. He also credited Lasry and the Democratic National Committee for paving the way for the RNC.
“Without the work that Alex and the DNC folks in Wisconsin did to bring the convention to Milwaukee in 2020, I’m not sure whether 2024 would have happened,” he said.
Priebus added all that convention work will help bring more major events to the city, which would increase revenue even more for the city that’s long struggled with finances. The Milwaukee Bucks submitted a bid earlier this year to host the 2025 or 2026 NBA All-Star Game at Fiserv Forum. Lasry and his dad are former Bucks execs.
Lasry and Priebus also disagreed on which presidential frontrunner has the advantage right now.
Priebus argued former President Donald Trump is a stronger candidate because President Joe Biden’s approval rating is worse now than it was in 2020 when he took office. He also noted a large portion of Dem voters in polls have said they wished the party had someone else running instead. He added Trump hasn’t changed at all since his first win, a sign his ability to win hasn’t gone away.
“Well, unfortunately for the Democrats, I think they’re stuck with the candidate they’ve got. They’ve chosen the wrong person just like they chose the wrong person when you ran,” Priebus said to Lasry, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2020. “And they’re gonna be stuck with a candidate who’s in far worse shape today than he was in 2020.”
Lasry argued Biden is “running the exact right strategy.”
Biden and his surrogates’ visits to Wisconsin help show Wisconsinites the administration cares about them and helps tell the story of how the administration is helping Wisconsinites, Lasry said.
“You know, we all love to ride the ‘pollercoaster,’ and that’s a fun ride,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s going to be 48-48. And how can you then get either that extra four percent, or even break through and maybe eat into that other 48 percent. And I think the strategy that the President’s doing right now is the right one.”
