DENVER — Denver is out of the running to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, the Republican National Committee announced Wednesday.
Cleveland and Dallas are the finalists to host the four-day event, with Denver and Kansas City, Mo., eliminated.
“Cleveland and Dallas demonstrated their ability to host a phenomenal convention in 2016, and the RNC is excited about the prospect of hosting our convention in either of these great cities,” RNC site selection committee chairwoman Enid Mickelsen said.
“The committee extends our sincere thanks and gratitude to Denver and Kansas City for their hard work and dedication to this effort. Both teams should be proud of their work. They were great ambassadors for their cities, and we felt fortunate to visit and get to know them. This was a tough decision for our committee because all four of these cities made excellent bids.”
Denver was trying to be a host city of a major political convention for the second time in eight years. It hosted the successful Democratic National Convention in 2008 at the Pepsi Center and then-Invesco Field at Mile High, where then-candidate Barack Obama accepted the party’s nomination with a speech in front of more than 75,000 people.
Denver organizers planned to use the Pepsi Center, the Colorado Convention Center and Coors Field as the main venues for the 2016 convention.
“While we’re thrilled to have made it this far, we are disappointed with today’s decision,” Denver 2016 Host Committee Chairman Pete Coors said. “Denver has the amenities, the community, the political climate and a proven track record that would have made it the perfect place to host the 2016 Republican National Convention.
“We also had a wonderful and diverse coalition of business, government and civic leaders who worked tirelessly to highlight what makes Denver great, and Colorado the best state in the Union. We especially want to take a moment to thank Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Gov. John Hickenlooper and our entire host committee for going above and beyond to help our bid.”