Phoenix mayor excited to make Democratic convention bid

PHOENIX — Mayor Greg Stanton is excited about the possibility that Phoenix may host 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Earlier this week, the Democratic National Committee requested a bid from Phoenix to host the convention. Stanton said the city’s bid will outline why the Democrats should come here.

He said there is adequate transportation and several hotels close to the Phoenix Convention Center and that Phoenix is ready to host the convention, among other reasons.

“With our growing diversity that we’re lucky enough to have here, and our fast-growing Latino population, from a political perspective, it makes a lot of sense for the DNC to choose Phoenix,” Stanton said.

Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee rejected Phoenix’s bid to host its 2016 convention. According to CNN, Republican officials said that high competition was the reason that Phoenix’s bid failed.

The RNC’s Site Selection Committee Chair Enid Mickelsen issued a statement on April 2, saying “in any other year, Columbus and Phoenix could have topped the list, but with so many strong cities competing, the committee had to make the difficult decision to narrow the field. Phoenix and Columbus are great American cities, and I hope they’ll pursue a future bid for an RNC convention.”

Stanton believes the bid his city offered the Republicans was a good one, but Phoenix had no control over the factors that led the committee to reject it.

“They have to make their own determination based on where, regionally, they think the convention should be, where they have the easiest access to the people with significant financial means to underwrite things,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into it.”

Stanton hopes the Democrats make the same mistake the Republicans did when they turned down the Valley of the Sun.