Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Friday hailed the Republican National Convention as a success “by many measures,” though he admitted that there are lessons to be learned from the city’s first full-scale major political event.
“Milwaukee got exposure not just across the United States but around the world,” Johnson told reporters outside his City Hall office. “Many of the delegates that I had the opportunity to speak to said they had a tremendous experience staying here in Milwaukee for their first time. So when they go back and tell stories about the convention, they’ll talk about their experience here. That is a positive thing.”
Johnson said the city triumphed in staging an event the “size, caliber and magnitude” of the four-day RNC, which took place four years after the COVID-19 pandemic thwarted Milwaukee’s plans to host a full-scale Democratic National Convention.
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Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman, though, offered a different assessment.
Shortly before Johnson appeared for the casual press briefing, Bauman, who happened to be passing by and who two years ago opposed Milwaukee’s bid to host the convention, stepped up to a bank of microphones and made several comments critical of the RNC.
“We were led to believe for many months that the RNC was going to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development, in spending,” Bauman said. “At this point, at least in the area of food and beverage, those promises were not true.”
Downtown businesses and neighborhoods were “largely deserted” for four days, he said.
“It was very difficult for RNC delegates to get out of the security perimeter to patronize Downtown bars. I heard reports from Third Ward establishments that they were closing at midnight. One server told me she made $20 in one night and they sent her home [early]. Restaurant and bar businesses, if they didn’t have booked events with the RNC, they pretty much had little to no business. Downtown was locked down so none of the regular customers came. The RNC people were pretty much locked into the secure perimeter.”
The RNC “strained to the absolute limits our capacity,” Bauman said.
“I think if there had been a realistic understanding of the pros and cons, I think we might have taken a different position on hosting the event in the first place,” he said. “I think we pulled it off from a logistics standpoint. I think overall that Milwaukee did OK in terms of public relations and the image of the city, but in terms of the economic benefits, it was grossly oversold.”
A decision by major Downtown employers to have their employees work from home also had a detrimental effect on businesses, Bauman said.
“I think it had a major impact, but what are they going to do?” he said. “You saw the condition of Downtown streets. It was very difficult to move around.”
When informed of Bauman’s comments, Johnson responded by labeling the alderman as “not a big friend of business anyway.”
“However, there are lessons that we can learn from this,” Johnson said. “This is our first time holding an event of this caliber in the city. Everybody ought to be pleased how the city performed and functioned. This really helped to elevate Milwaukee and shine an additional light on the city the likes of which we have never seen before. Folks should be proud of that. Everybody played a tremendous role in making this happen. I, quite frankly, am proud of Milwaukee.”
Johnson said people from across the country and around the world were focused on Milwaukee for four days for the convention, which culminated Thursday night with a lengthy speech by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“Milwaukee was able to host a political nominating convention where the principal there potentially could be the president of the United States of America, the most powerful position on earth,” Johnson said. “Milwaukee would play a role in that. That’s a powerful thing.”
Successfully carrying out the convention could have long-term economic benefits for the city and boost efforts to attract other major events, Johnson reiterated.
“This puts us in a position where we can better sell ourselves to other large-scale events and when those things come here, especially without a security perimeter like we saw with the RNC, it’ll put us in a position to have greater opportunity to impact our economy.”
Johnson didn’t rule out making a future bid for a major political nominating convention.
“I just think that the answer to that would be yes, sitting right here right now, but we’ve got some homework to do,” he said. “We should have a review about what happened here and find ways we can improve in the event we’re able to host another large-scale political nominating convention, whether it’s the DNC or the RNC. I think there are lessons that can be learned from this.”
Johnson said the final night of the convention was carried out without any law enforcement issues and that all security barriers should be removed by Monday.
