Playing Politics
You may have heard the news last Friday that the Republican National Committee had voted to hold its 2024 presidential nominating convention in Milwaukee…Wisconsin being a key electoral state was no doubt a factor in that city making the final cut.
In the end, however, it was politics by Democrats in Tennessee that denied Nashville a chance for the national spotlight—and the millions in economic development and tourism dollars the convention would have brought the Volunteer State.
Nashville council members last Tuesday night voted down a draft agreement to host the event. The Republican governor lobbied heavily for the convention to come to Tennessee, as did Republicans in the state legislature. But Nashville’s Metro Council is dominated by Democrats, leading to the vote against having Republicans come to their city. 22 council members were against, 10 in favor, and 3 abstained.
Was there more to it than that? Perhaps. But it probably is what it seems.
Again, Wisconsin is a swing state while Tennessee is reliably red in presidential elections…but that would have been something for the RNC to weigh in its deliberations. Instead, petulant Democrats denied their city the chance to be big league in something beyond excellent music. And we wonder why our nation’s cities are in such decline. The lack of leadership continues to show.
