Republican National Convention 2024: What to Know About the Event and Related Protests
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This story was written by one of Teen Vogue's 2024 Student Correspondents, a team of college students covering the election cycle from key battleground states.
Delegates from across the country are heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, later this month for the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC). Donald Trump is expected to be chosen as the nominee, and it is possible he will announce his vice presidential pick at the convention, if not prior.
More than 50,000 attendees are expected at the four-day event, which will take place July 15-18. Milwaukee is bracing for traffic restrictions, business closures, and, on the first day of the convention, it expects to see a protest parade, organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC. The national coalition, which is endorsed by more than 120 groups and unions, sued the city for the right to protest “within sight and sound” of the convention site, but a judge rejected the group’s proposed route.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Republican National Convention and how organizers are mobilizing to protest the GOP’s agenda.
What is the RNC, and why is it in Milwaukee this year?
Every four years, in the lead-up to a presidential election, political parties host national conventions. Milwaukee leaders said their city is “turnkey” ready to host a convention because the city was scheduled to host the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in 2020, until the event moved mostly online because of the pandemic. Wisconsin is also a crucial swing state, and Republicans have consistently chosen swing states to host in recent years. (This year, the DNC is scheduled to take place in Chicago in August.)
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the presumptive nominees for their respective parties, meaning they secured the requisite number of delegates to win the majority vote at the convention and receive the nomination. Still, both men are facing struggles that are unusual for leading presidential candidates. For Biden, there is speculation about whether he will drop out of the race, after his performance at the first debate, but the president has maintained his intention to stay in it. Trump, meanwhile, was convicted on 34 felony charges earlier this year, though the charges will not prevent him from running for president. (Felony charges may prevent people from running for local or state positions in some parts of the country, but those restrictions do not apply to federal elected positions.)
Before the first presidential debate, Trump said that he knew who he would choose to be his vice president, and that they would be at the debate; however, he later said he was still deciding. There are a number of rumored contenders for the Republican vice president nominee, but North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, Ohio senator JD Vance, and Florida senator Marco Rubio are considered to be among the most likely choices.
Convention organizers are working with local businesses to put on a four-day “Convention Fest” with “Milwaukee and Wisconsin-forward” activities and vendors. Events are primarily at Fiserv Forum, Baird Center, and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena downtown, but traffic restrictions and other restricted areas will extend blocks beyond the core event spaces.
What are the event restrictions?
A number of Milwaukee streets will be shut down, affecting traffic, for the duration of the RNC. Intermittent closures will start several days before the convention, on July 11.
The restricted areas are divided into two levels: inner perimeter, where access is only permitted to credentialed individuals; and the outer perimeter, where pedestrians and cyclists are allowed, but vehicles must go through checkpoints. The outer perimeter extends a few blocks past the event spaces, covering an area that is roughly 10 blocks long and seven blocks wide.
Some businesses will remain open or are even collaborating with RNC organizers, but other businesses have chosen to close during the convention, or offer remote work options to employees. Due to security restrictions, other businesses will be unavailable to the public.
How will the restrictions impact protesters?
The Secret Service, which led the design of the security plan, announced in June that there will be two platforms for speakers and a “parade route,” with specifically designated sections for protesters within the outer perimeter area. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told ABC News that "demonstration zones for the convention are designated by the host city, not the Secret Service."
The Coalition to March on the RNC, represented by the ACLU of Wisconsin, promptly sued the city, alleging that it was infringing on its First Amendment rights by restricting where protesters could demonstrate. They released a map with the group's intended protest path, which is larger and closer to the event space than the designated parade route. But on Monday, a federal judge ruled that the city did not violate the Constitution when designating the protest rules around the convention.
In a statement, the staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin criticized the city’s delayed decision-making and its choice “to push protesters even further away from the convention site.” These moves, the statement said, “chill freedom of expression and restrict the exercise of First Amendment rights.”
The coalition released a more scathing statement, claiming, “The City has opened doors and rolled out red carpet for the Republicans and has left their residents in the dark." They warned that the decision not to grant their requested permit increases the likelihood that protesters will come into contact with police, which historically "has always been the start of a protest going south.”
Still, they maintained that they “are firm in our demand to march within sight and sound of the front doors of the Fiserv Forum.”
Why are people protesting at the RNC?
The Coalition to March on the RNC is organized under several “points of unity,” including fighting what it calls the “racist and reactionary agenda” of the Republican Party; advocating for the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people; protecting and broadening immigrant and reproductive rights; demonstrating solidarity with Palestine; and “demanding peace, justice, and equity for all.”
The coalition led protests in the cities that hosted GOP conventions in 2008, 2012, and 2016, when Trump won the Republican presidential nomination the first time. Many of the organizations involved were central to the Coalition to March on the RNC in Milwaukee in 2020, including Starbucks Workers United, the Sierra Club, and CODEPINK, as well as local chapters of national organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America and Never Again Action.
Coalition organizers say they are “committed” to hosting a “family-friendly” march and rally, despite pushback from Milwaukee and the Republican National Committee. The event will be staffed by more than 25 medics and 100 marshals, and the coalition is working with observers from the National Lawyers Guild to ensure “the rights of the people are being honored and that police are held accountable if the peoples’ rights are violated.” The march and rally are scheduled to take place on July 15, after a press conference that begins at 10 a.m.
Since last summer, the coalition has been organizing events to mobilize the community in Milwaukee and beyond. The group has hosted or endorsed events including a drag show to raise funds for the march, a panel with different student leaders for pro-Palestine encampments, and general mobilization meetings.
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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