Duval County

5 Facts about the RNC’s move from Charlotte to Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fl.a — After North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper pushed back against President Trump’s request to hold this year’s Republican National Convention in Charlotte without social distancing measures, the RNC decided to bring the convention to Jacksonville after a week of searching.

There will still be a convention in Charlotte

Due to contractual obligations, there will still be a scaled-down convention in Charlotte from August 21 through 24, where 336 delegates will vote to nominate Trump to represent the Republican Party in the 2020 presidential election.

RNC at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena

The celebration of Trump’s nomination will take place in Jacksonville from August 25 through 27 and will feature three days of speeches and celebrations with 2,000 delegates. The Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena can hold 15,000 people and is where the convention will be held.

Florida Democratic Party chair disapproves of the convention’s move

The chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Terrie Rizzo had this to say about the convention’s move to Jacksonville: “I am deeply concerned that the impetus for moving their highest profile event to Florida was because Donald Trump wanted to give a speech to a crowd of people not social distancing -- and, given his previous public events, likely not wearing masks.”

Petition to keep RNC out of Jacksonville has over 15K signatures

A petition on Change.org to prevent the RNC from coming to Jacksonville has garnered over 15,500 signatures as of Friday at 1:30 p.m. Some locals are worried about the potential to spread COVID-19 in Jacksonville during the crowded event, while others are worried about potential protests and the possible destruction and violence that could follow the RNC to town.

Jacksonville’s COVID-19 rates lower than Charlotte’s

According to our affiliate WSOCTV, Mecklenburg County has nearly double Duval County’s COVID-19 death rate and a higher infection rate than Duval County.

RELATED: Mayor: Republican National Convention being hosted in Jacksonville is a ‘tremendous opportunity’ - Jacksonville will be host city for Republican National Convention - Health Experts: Florida seeing COVID-19 cases go up, but say too early to call it a second wave