Here’s What’s Still Happening in Milwaukee for the DNC

The convention isn’t what it used to be, but there are still a few events planned for the host city.

There certainly won’t be 50,000 new visitors in Milwaukee next week — not after the Democratic National Convention was all but canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There won’t be the high-traffic media frenzy as originally anticipated. Delegates are staying home, former Vice President Joe Biden will accept the Democratic presidential nomination from his home in Delaware, and most speakers will give speeches from other locations across the country.

However, there are still a few events planned for the Wisconsin Center — the convention’s new home after it was moved from the Fiserv Forum in June. 

Here is what is still happening in Milwaukee:

The broadcast itself will still be run out of a video control room at the Wisconsin Center, though it will be closed off to the public and most media. Video streams will be routed to the Wisconsin Center for broadcast.

On Monday night, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, will speak at the Wisconsin Center. President Donald Trump is coming to Oshkosh that day for a rally, ostensibly to distract from the DNC.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, and convention secretary Jason Rae will speak Tuesday night. Barrett will gavel the convention in, Rae will conduct the delegate roll-call vote, and Barnes will confer Wisconsin’s votes to Biden.

Gov. Tony Evers will speak at the beginning of Wednesday’s broadcast. There will once again be a Republican counter-presence as Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to make an appearance in Wisconsin that day, though it has not yet been announced where he will stop.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin will speak on Thursday, the final day of the convention, before Biden formally accepts the party nomination.

As a result of the virtual pivot, the security perimeter, released Wednesday, has substantially contracted to just a couple-block radius around the Wisconsin Center.

The security perimeter was announced jointly by the governmental agencies still involved, including the Secret Service, National Guard, Milwaukee Police Department, FBI, Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, Waukesha County Health and Human Services, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Coast Guard. 

More than 100 law enforcement agencies are no longer sending officers to help out, former Milwaukee Police Department Chief Alfonso Morales told WTMJ last month.