TAMPA, Fla. — Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters wants the Republicans to come to Florida to nominate Donald Trump for another four-year term later this summer. He acknowledges, however, that while Tampa might make the most sense because of its recent history of hosting the massive staging event, that’s not likely to happen.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to have local cooperation, so that probably eliminates Tampa,” he said on Thursday. 

In the days since President Trump suggested moving the political convention out of North Carolina, top Florida GOP officials like Gruters and Gov. Ron DeSantis have indicated their enthusiastic support to move the event to the Sunshine State.

But any notion that Tampa would be the host the event died this week after Mayor Jane Castor’s spokesperson Ashley Bauman told the Tampa Bay Times that it “would be irresponsible to consider hosting a convention of that scale” while the city deals with the coronavirus pandemic.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has also dismissed the notion of hosting such an event with such a short amount of time to prepare.

President Trumps wants full attendance in Charlotte

Gruters believes that Jacksonville remains a viable alternative if negotiations ultimately break down between officials with the Republican National Committee and North Carolina.  Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry chaired the RPOF when the convention was in Tampa.

The Republican National Committee formally awarded Charlotte, North Carolina the party event in July of 2018 in a unanimous vote.  The Charlotte City Council has voted to accept $50 million from the Department of Justice to cover security costs, and has already spent “millions” to prepare for the convention, according to WSOCTV.com.

But President Trump tweeted earlier this week that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper needed to ensure that there would be full attendance at the convention “within a week,” or else he’d consider moving the quadrennial event. Public health officials in North Carolina have asked convention organizers to provide written plans about how they would ensure the health of delegates and other guests while the pandemic continues.

“The President and the Republican National Committee want to stay in Charlotte, they do not want to move it,” Gruters says. “But if they force the RNC to move and the president to move, then Florida is rolling out the red carpet.”

Can political conventions go on as they have before?

With the virus expected to remain a part of American life throughout the rest of this year, the idea that the political conventions can take place in their traditional form – with thousands of people flying to a different city, staying in a hotel and attending a packed arena for four straight nights, seems incongruous in an age of social distancing. 

The Democratic National Committee’s rules committee voted earlier this month to give convention organizers the authority to limit the scope of the convention if necessary, to deal with the pandemic. The Democrats' convention is slated to begin on August 17.

That’s a notably different tone than Republican officials have voiced about their convention. On the RNC’s website, a message says that “nearly 50,000 visitors” are expected to attend the event at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

Gruters says he doesn’t believe many Republicans will opt to skip the event.

“At these caucuses right now, people are fighting over who gets to go,” he said about the competition to be selected as a Florida delegate to the convention. “People want to see the president, and the president wants to be with the people, and it’s important for us to be able to be able to showcase his vision of how he’s going to get America back on track and restore the greatest economy we’ve ever seen.”

Those caucus elections have been taking place all month, with delegates being interviewed to represent Florida’s 15^th Congressional District (which includes Polk, Hillsborough and Lake counties) taking place this Saturday morning in Lakeland. 

“I fully expect to go on. It just depends on where we’re going to have it now,” he says.

The RNC is scheduled to take place August 24-27.