Where DNCs and RNCs Have Taken Place

When the Democratic Party picked the city of Milwaukee as the location for its 2020 National Convention, it chose a Midwestern city other than Chicago for the event for the first time in more than 100 years.

The convention kicked off today, but because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is held partly at the Milwaukee Wisconsin Center and partly online. The Republican National Convention, scheduled to start a week from now in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been reduced in size even more and will also move online for the most part.

Picking the largest city in Wisconsin over Miami and Houston, the Democratic Party made a statement about the importance of the region in the upcoming election. In 2016, U.S. President Donald Trump won Michigan and Wisconsin, which had voted for President Obama, back from Democrats and thereby secured votes essential to his victory.

As seen in the chart, both Democrats and Republicans have held several National Conventions in Chicago and have also favored Philadelphia. While Republicans have also visited Cleveland, Detroit, Saint Paul and Kansas City a combined seven times with their National Convention in the past 100 years, Democrats have not had the same presence in the Midwest.