RNC announces scaled-back convention in Jacksonville

Attendance for the first three nights will be limited to delegates only:

Ronna McDaniel has written a letter to RNC members saying that attendance for the first three nights of the four-night event will be limited to delegates.

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) July 16, 2020

This is quite the change:

RNC Slashes Republican Convention Capacity By 80% – https://t.co/pc3OQzPXV7 pic.twitter.com/0v5H382Anh

— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) July 16, 2020

There will be multiple health protocols in place as well:

McDaniel writes that the 4 nights of programming will take place each night using a mix of “indoor and outdoor venues" and that they will “implement a variety of health protocols,” including temperature checks, coronavirus testing and sanitization.https://t.co/UhNssciaPB

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) July 16, 2020

Keep in mind, Republicans moved the convention from North Carolina because of these exact worries:

The RNC moved the convention to Jacksonville in June, exorciating NC Governor Roy Cooper for not committing to a full convention as usual in Charlotte, citing Coronavirus concerns.

Due to coronavirus concerns, they’ll have a scaled back convention in FL. https://t.co/JMaWTByctS https://t.co/3uvqVm25nM

— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) July 16, 2020

Attendance on the 4th night will be slightly increased:

More from McDaniel letter: When Trump delivers his nomination acceptance speech on the fourth night of the convention, August 27, attendance will be expanded to delegates, a guest of their choosing, and alternate delegates.

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) July 16, 2020

But it will not be a large crowd if this holds up:

The RNC is scaling back its plans for its convention in Jacksonville next month amid surging coronavirus cases in Florida.
Attendance at Trump’s convention speech likely capped around 7,000
w/ @ryanobles https://t.co/23pNY5jX4V

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 16, 2020

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wants the outdoor events at night:

Talked to @marcorubio about outdoor events at Jacksonville RNC, "I hope it's at night, it won't make it great, but it will make It better, we are in a different environment right now."https://t.co/O03zXYnr2w

— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) July 16, 2020

But, weather-wise, that’s a problem, too:

To expand on the in/outdoor issue: we're hearing RNC folks from up north (where summer is nicer) toured the various venues IN THE MORNING when it's cool & afternoon rains haven't turned everything to soup.

So outdoor seemed like a good idea to those unused to FL summer 2/3

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) July 16, 2020

“So the RNC is building in some flexibility”:

Yes, epidemiologists say it's probably a good idea not to have a convention, especially indoors. Ergo, it's certainly safer to have it outdoors. So the RNC is building in some flexibility to account for 2 capricious forces of nature

1) weather

2) Trump's whims

3/3 (for now)

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) July 16, 2020

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