With over two years to go until the 2024 presidential election, Mayor Eric Adams Thursday announced New York City is applying to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC), pitching Madison Square Garden as the primary venue with the Jacob Javits Center serving as a secondary event space.
“This is a Team New York moment,” Adams said. “You see the cross section of unions, our electeds, our small business owners, we all benefit by allowing and bringing in the convention here to the city. This is not about Democrat or Republican. It’s about how do we bring resources to our city? It’s going to impact all five boroughs. This is an opportunity for us to wear one jersey: team New York.”
Adams was joined on the 91st floor of the 1 Vanderbilt Avenue tower in midtown Thursday by his Chief of Staff Frank Carone, Economic Development Corporation (EDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimball, Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer and Hotel and Gaming Trades Council President Rich Maroko. As well as Congress Members Jerry Nadler (D – Manhattan, Brooklyn), Carolyn Maloney (D – Manhattan, Queens), Adriano Espaillat (D – Manhattan, Bronx) and Hakeem Jeffries (D – Brooklyn).
The mayor said hosting the DNC would be an economic boon for the city, filling tens of thousands of hotel rooms with delegates and others attending the convention and providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic activity.
And since Adams took office almost six months ago, he said, the city’s economy has already been on the rebound from the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re recovering, we’re moving in the right direction,” Adams said. “Eighty point five percent of our hotels are up in occupancy, we want to expand to 100 plus. One hundred thousand new jobs since I took office. We’re watching the decrease in shootings, a decrease in murders. We are on the right path New York. And you don’t have to only physically be at One Vanderbilt to realize it. You can know it no matter where you are, you’re on top of the world, this is New York City.”
Adams said his team, led by Carone, put together the city’s bid for the convention in just 22 days, ahead of the submission deadline. Carone emphasized the city’s commitment to investing the planning and resources necessary to making New York an ideal host for the 2024 DNC.
“And what will we say to the DNC? That New York is ready to make this the smoothest, best run and sophisticated national convention they’ve ever seen,” Carone said. “And we say that humbly. The city will roll out the red carpet. We’re going to build the best host committee, which we believe will raise sufficient resources to make this happen.”
According to a published report, Adams is entering into the contest along with mayors from other big cities like Chicago and Atlanta to win the opportunity to host the party nominating convention. This would be the first time the city has hosted the DNC since 1992, when Bill Clinton was first running for president.
“It’s been 30 years since the DNC was in New York City,” Maloney said. “And I think it’s about time that they came back. Because in the last 30 years, New York has been through incredible growth, crisis and rebuilding. And we have shown resilience, strength and deep understanding for solving some of our nation’s most pressing problems.”
The last time the city applied to host the DNC was in 2016 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure. The city ultimately lost the contest to Philadelphia because the Democratic National Committee reportedly had several concerns about holding the event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the proposed venue. Among their concerns were a lack of available hotel rooms near the arena and potential issues with securing its perimeter.
When it comes to crime, Adams said he doesn’t think the city’s proposal to the Democratic National Convention will suffer from the city’s ongoing surge in gun violence and major crime overall.
“People are going to realize the resiliency of the city, we have the best police department on the globe,” Adams said. “The issue of pervasive gun violence has become something that’s an American problem. And we all want to unite together across this country to solve it together.”
