GOP State Convention in Minneapolis

Krusty has a post today about the GOP state convention possibly moving to Sioux City this year. Worse, as Krusty points out, since the decision has not yet been made, the location will still be unknown when we have our county conventions and delegates start signing up this Saturday.

This information has not actually been secret but it has not been very public either.  When I heard about this a few weeks ago, I called my SCC reps and told them that I thought it was a bad idea and they agreed.

As I understand it there are three cities bidding on the convention: Des Moines, Sioux City and Cedar Rapids. Apparently there are some other events in Des Moines and hotel space is at a premium. And even though I am from Cedar Rapids, I would think that we are a terrible location to host a convention of this size. There go my chances of serving on the CR City Council ;-(

The worst possible choice is Sioux City. Sioux city is on the western border of Iowa. So it is about as far as you can get from the geographic center of the state. Even worse given the population distribution of our state which leans heavily east, Sioux city is even farther from the demographic center of the state.

Even if hotels are short in Des Moines, holding the convention in Sioux CIty almost guarantees that a large number of delegates will need hotel rooms. I do not know whether there will be a major pre-convention event but if there is, it will be impossible for 1st and 2nd Republicans to attend without taking a whole day off from work.

Even worse, given the number of candidates for the 2nd and 3rd district congressional races there is the real possibility that the nominee will be chosen at a district convention. The state convention has been scheduled long enough after the primary to make resolving nominations at the convention possible. I cannot stress how bad a decision it would be to decide the 2nd CD race in Sioux City! The turnout from our district will be greatly suppressed if Siouxland is the choice.

I have called all three of my SCC reps and I left a voice message for Matt Strawn to to the same effect. If you agree that the convention should not be in Sioux City, please call your reps and let them know. The planning right now is being driven by the staff not the SCC. I hope the SCC asserts its authority and demands a real choice rather than having the location presented as a fait accompli.

Perhaps we should hold the convention in Minneapolis — for many of us, it would be a shorter drive.

Comments

[Matt Green]

Dave, can you imagine the drive from Lee county to Sioux City? This would be a deal killer for me and most everyone down this way.

[Yoda]

Sioux City? Surely it must be a joke. 60% of the state's population lives East of the CR-IC corridor.

Des Moines is obviously the best choice due to size and geography, but Cedar Rapids is a close 2nd. Sioux City eh... not so much.

[William Dahlsten]

Cedar Rapids was stretched to its limit for prior Iowa Republican Conventions. Some Districts met in Coralville. Sioux City, get serious. It takes a metro to make a convention of this size work. Either extreme of I-80 could handle it. Moline is closer to most Iowans than Omaha.

[desmoinesdem]

Wouldn't the district conventions have to be held before the state convention? I don't understand why the GOP nominees in IA-02 or IA-03 would need to be selected at the state convention.

I agree with you that Sioux City is a poor choice for a statewide convention venue.

[HawkeyeGOP]

desmmoinesdem,

The district conventions do come before the state convention. They also precede the primary. If no one gets 35% then the district convention chooses the (congressional) nominee. The convention reconvenes to select a candidate. The last time this happened was in the fifth district when Steve King was nominated by the convention.

If the 2nd (or 3rd) district does not have a nominee after the primary, the district convention will reconvene.

Last time around there was the possibility that the senate race might go to the convention. There has been some talk that if the congressional races are not resolved that the districts might reconvene during the weekend of the state convention. Technically the district convention would reconvene in the state convention city.