FILE - In this July 26, 2016, file photo the stage is reflected on a glass window on the suite level at Wells Fargo Arena as Timmy Kelly sings the national anthem before the start of the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/John Locher, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Republican Party is working on a bid for the 2024 Republican National Convention. If selected, the gathering would be held in Salt Lake City.
The state party is working in conjunction with the Utah Office of Tourism and Visit Salt Lake on a bid package. It’s similar to the process of vying for an Olympic Games. And while planning for the convention is in the early stages, but Utah party members are already hard at work.
“We gave our initial pitch in D.C. for it this week and I think we’ll go forward with a formal bid depending on what Visit Salt Lake wants to do,” Utah GOP Chair Carson Jorgenson told KSL NewsRadio.
Around 50,000 people attended the 2016 convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Last year’s convention was held online due to the pandemic. For Jorgenson, hosting the national gathering of tens of thousands of people would mean a great deal for Utah.
“We’re here to support the state. We’re here to bring revenue and show the proof that there’s a reason why, under Republican leadership, for the last how many years that we are one of the best-run states and that we are a great place for the country to come to represent what it means to be a conservative and a Republican in this country,” Jorgenson told KSL.
He estimates the revenue potential of hosting the national convention to be in the tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Utah GOP bid for the 2012 Republican National Convention, but lost to Tampa. One of the main reasons the Beehive State took second place was the lack of hotel rooms in the downtown area. But, Jorgenson told KSL NewsRadio that might not be a problem by 2024.
“The new Hyatt going in downtown was a crucial part of the infrastructure that it would take to get this bid finished,” he said.
“I think it would be a pretty good almost maiden voyage for the hotel.”
Jorgenson said December 1, 2021, is the official deadline to submit the bid. Until then, the Utah GOP will work alongside the Utah Office of Tourism and Visit Salt Lake to put the finishing touches on the package.