CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Republican National Convention expects to move the celebratory part of its convention to Jacksonville, Florida following a dispute with North Carolina over pandemic safeguards, according to a report by the Washington Post.

Seeking a city willing to allow a large-scale event amid the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans have tentatively settled on Jacksonville, Fla., as the new destination for the premier festivities of the RNC in August, according to three Republican officials briefed on the plans, the Washinton Post reports.

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The details of the arrangement are reportedly still in flux and RNC aides are ‘scrambling’ to determine whether the northern Florida city has enough hotel rooms to accommodate the quadrennial event, which typically kicks off the final stretch of the presidential campaign.

Republican officials were in Jacksonville on Monday looking at the city and the surrounding areas.

“Several cities are still being considered. No final decision has been made. Convention officials are touring Phoenix, Savannah, Dallas, and Jacksonville this week, and we have been in conversations with several other potential locations,” a Republican National Committee official said.

The North Carolina Democratic Party released a statement in response to the announcement.

“If the president is genuinely delusional enough to think that demanding a full-scale convention is reasonable, then Jacksonville is more than welcome to host his acceptance speech. Governor Cooper has made it clear that no political event is worth risking the public health of the Charlotte community and the lives of more North Carolinians. Evidently President Trump’s calculus is different.”

The City of Charlotte says they have been regularly meeting and have had ongoing discussions on the relocation of the convention. “The City has not been officially informed of the RNC’s intent to relocate the convention. Considering the media reports of the RNC’s apparent unilateral decision to relocate a substantial portion of the convention to Jacksonville, an immediate discussion with the RNC and our partners regarding contractual obligations and remedies resulting from this apparent decision is required.””

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