Republican National Committee picks Houston for 2028 convention

Mark your calendars and grab your singles.

The Republican National Committee announced Friday that Houston, Texas would be the site of its 2028 presidential nominating convention.

“The entire RNC membership is eager to work with Governor Greg Abbott, Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Houston Host Committee, and Houston First Corporation to follow in Milwaukee’s footsteps by delivering an incredible convention for our Party,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

Abbott said he was “proud to welcome” the GOP event following the vote by the RNC’s 168 committee members to hold the convention in America’s fourth most-populous city.

“Houston showcases all the things that make Texas great: a strong business environment, record-breaking job growth, and a hub of entertainment and tourism,” the governor added.

The RNC had also considered Miami, Fla., and Nashville. Tenn. to host the 2028 convention. Nashville was also a finalist to host next year’s Republican convention, but lost out to Milwaukee.

Houston has not hosted a major party convention since 1992, when the Republicans renominated George H.W. Bush at the Astrodome. Eight years earlier, Ronald Reagan was renominated in Dallas, the first time the Republican convention had been held in the Lone Star State.

Democrats also held their nominating convention in Houston in 1928, when they nominated New York Gov. Al Smith to run, unsuccessfully, against Republican Herbert Hoover.

The RNC chose Milwaukee as the site of its 2024 convention last year and hosted its first primary debate with eight presidential candidates at Fiserv Forum Wednesday.

The event featured Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

The next debate, set for Sept. 27 at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., is expected to cull some of the candidates, with an increased donor and fundraising threshold.

Frontrunner and former President Donald Trump did not attend but sent several surrogates in his stead, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

Trump, 77, is hoping to face President Biden in a rematch election next year, with both assuming double-digit leads in national polls over their primary competitors.

Wisconsin went for President Biden in the 2020 election, but was one of three “blue wall” states that Trump flipped in 2016 to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Texas has not backed a Democrat for president since 1976, when Jimmy Carter won the state’s 26 electoral votes (40 will be at stake in 2024.).