In three years, an American city will host a fierce competition among diverse teams. No, not the Olympics — the Democratic National Convention. Choosing a host city that can showcase the party’s strengths and mask its weaknesses will be an Olympian challenge.
Democrats face a fundamental problem: They have lost touch with the middle of the country. They own the coasts. But the so-called “flyover states” dominate the Electoral College, and those states are moving farther out of reach.
Democrats face a true dilemma. They desperately need a stage to prove they can govern, yet no obvious city offers safe ground.
In 2024, Democrats racked up California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington’s 105 electoral votes by an average margin of 58.2%. But across the remaining 46 states plus Washington, D.C. — worth 433 electoral votes — they managed just 121.
In the “flyover 80%” of America, Democrats won barely a quarter of the vote. That weakness is not a passing problem. If they continue to bleed support outside their coastal strongholds, they will lock themselves out of the White House for good.
Almost a year after their crushing defeat, Democrats remain adrift. Instead of rethinking their message, they cling to the same losing issues: abolishing ICE, defunding the police, hiking taxes, and promoting transgender extremism. The voters have spoken — and rejected all of it.
The numbers are brutal. A recent Wall Street Journal poll put Democrats at a 35-year low, with 63% of Americans holding an unfavorable view of the party. Other surveys tell the same story.
The problem goes deeper than branding. Democrats need more than a new message. They need new issues, new leadership, and a new standard-bearer. Before any of that, though, they need a place to sort out the wreckage.
Republicans have already picked Houston for their 2028 convention. Decision made. For Democrats, as usual, nothing comes quickly — or easily. Even choosing a city exposes the chaos inside the party.
The last 10 Democratic conventions were held in Chicago (2024), Milwaukee (2020), Philadelphia (2016), Charlotte (2012), Denver (2008), Boston (2004), Los Angeles (2000), Chicago (1996), New York (1992), and Atlanta (1988). Big cities, yes — but half were in states that Democrats already win with ease. Those venues provide a friendly reception but do little to help Democrats reconnect with the rest of America.
If Democrats want to matter in 2028, they need to focus on battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Nevada. Yet Milwaukee hosted just two conventions ago, and Philadelphia just three. Phoenix or Las Vegas might make sense, but neither city seems interested.
For now, the reported contenders are New Orleans, San Antonio, and Chicago.
New Orleans, colorful as always, may be too colorful: Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been indicted for using public funds to cover up a three-year affair with a cop. The city is also in Louisiana, which Democrats lost by 22 points.
San Antonio’s mayor, Gina Ortiz Jones, is also courting the convention. In a July 1 letter, Ortiz wrote: “Our city — bold, inclusive, and emblematic of the American future — would be a fitting and inspiring home for this historic event.”
Texas Democrats’ recent walkout over redistricting may endear San Antonio to the party’s national brethren, but Republicans have already claimed Houston. Also, Democrats lost Texas by 14 points.
Chicago wants another turn, even after hosting in 2024. But the city also has an enormous crime problem, a failing city government on the verge of complete collapse (wholly owned by Democrats, of course), and “America’s worst mayor.”
RELATED: ‘Municipal conservatism’ offers hope to crime-ridden blue cities
Other reports suggest that Charlotte and Nashville are also interested. Charlotte, in a swing state, at least makes some sense. But Democrats were there in 2012. And both North Carolina and Tennessee sit in Democrats’ weakest region: the South, where they only carried Virginia in 2024 and lost Tennessee by nearly 30 points.
Democrats face a true dilemma. They desperately need a stage to prove they can govern, yet no obvious city offers safe ground. The last thing the party wants is to spotlight its own failures — crime, illegal immigration, defunded police, transgender sanctuaries, looming bankruptcies, punishing taxes, and mass flight from blue cities.
But nearly every Democratic stronghold tells that story.
The party doesn’t just need a reintroduction. It needs a reinvention. And if choosing a convention site proves this difficult, it signals how long — and how painful — that reinvention will be.
Dozens of locally elected prosecutors from all over the country, many from Democratic areas within red states, are refusing to enforce abortion restrictions that have now been legalized following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
After the court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision Friday — permitting pro-life state legislatures to enact abortion restrictions — 90 elected prosecutors collectively representing more than 91.5 million people from 31 states and territories and the District of Columbia declared their intention to ignore pro-life laws restricting abortion, calling them "a mockery of justice."
"We stand together in our firm belief that prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions," the prosecutors said in a joint statement organized by Fair and Just Prosecution, a left-leaning legal nonprofit.
"As such, we decline to use our offices' resources to criminalize reproductive heath decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions," the statement reads.
The actions of these pro-abortion attorneys will escalate a growing conflict between liberal prosecutors who support abortion rights and pro-life state attorneys general and legislatures who, in accordance with the will of voters, enact restrictions on abortion.
Many of the prosecutors who signed on to the joint statement are from 12 states where abortion is now banned or likely to be banned, including Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and others. They argue that prosecutorial discretion permits them to prioritize other crimes instead of pursuing cases against abortion providers.
Pro-life advocates harshly criticized their position. James Bopp Jr., the general counsel of the National Right to Life Committee, said the prosecutors' statement was "anti-democratic" in a statement to CNN. His organization has published model legislation for pro-life lawmakers that would enable state attorneys general to take up abortion cases when local prosecutors refuse to do so.
"They were not elected to decide what the law was," Bopp told CNN. "If they don't want to enforce these laws, then we'll have somebody else do it."
Some state attorneys general already possess the power to override local prosecutors. Alabama and Arizona are two states, among others, where the attorney general holds the power to supersede local prosecutors for any reason, according to Emory Law Journal. They each have elected Republican attorneys general and have laws banning abortion that may take effect after the Supreme Court's decision.
Florida, Michigan, and several other states give broad powers to state officials to override local prosecutors when they deem it to be in the public interest, Politico reported.
Republicans have criticized the abuse of prosecutorial discretion by Democratic prosecutors.
"We have no doubt they are sincere in their pledge to not do their jobs," a spokeswoman for Georgia attorney general Chris Carr told the Center Square after local district attorneys said they would not enforce the state's heartbeat bill.
"It's a dereliction of duty for district attorneys and solicitors to pre-emptively pick and choose which laws they will enforce," Carr spokeswoman Kara Richardson said. "It undermines the rule of law and erodes our system of self-governance."
Small towns are plagued like big blue cities with a tight network of media, progressive political operatives, and dark money pushing leftism.
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