Milwaukee not fancy enough to host DNC? Gov. Evers reacts to Miami, 'That's actually kind of funny.'

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Tony Evers has a message for Miami amid reports that the South Florida city is trying to undermine Milwaukee's bid for the 2020 Democratic National Convention by arguing Wisconsin's largest city isn't fancy enough to host the event.

"I'd say that's a pitch that will cause them not to get it," Evers said Thursday. "That's actually kind of funny."

Evers was responding to a new report from Politico about Miami's last-ditch lobbying blitz to land the convention, which is being led by Florida politicians, donors and insiders.

Poltico's article quoted Joe Falk, a major South Florida donor involved in supporting Miami’s bid, which includes Miami Beach and Dade County.

“How do you get the donor to dig deeper? Show him a good time,” Falk was quoted as saying. “The donors are here and we know how to treat donors. We have the facilities to make those incredibly wealthy people comfortable. And we know how to throw a good party.”

Evers chuckled when told of those comments.

"I think that Democrats have an extraordinarily large tent — people from all walks of life— and Milwaukee is absolutely the best place for them," he said. "If Miami is touting themselves as the place for wealthy Democrats to show up, there won't be many."

Evers added, "So bring it on to Milwaukee, and we'll treat people fine."

Democrats are expected to announce their DNC 2020 host city by the end of the month.

Houston is the third finalist.

Even Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Rochester Republican, appears to be backing Milwaukee's convention bid.

"I hope that they bring lots of limousine liberals who have all kinds of dollars to spend and that they do it in Milwaukee if they’re going to do it anywhere," Vos said Thursday. "If I look at the pure economics, it’s good to have any convention of any size come to our state and have people spend their money here."

Vos added some backhanded praise of Milwaukee serving as host city.

"I don’t know if it’s good for Republicans or not, but I think any convention coming to Wisconsin would be a good thing," he said. "So it would probably give an opportunity for an awful lot of Republicans to realize why we want to have Donald Trump re-elected."

Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee chairman, said in a recent interview that each finalist has a legitimate chance to win.

The DNC has been negotiating with all three cities. Milwaukee bid organizers said they are dealing with final items brought up by the DNC.

On Wednesday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters the city's local bid committee "has done an exceptional job of putting forth our case. There is no question Houston is known for putting on big events."

Sylvester said mayors from Los Angeles, Denver, New Orleans and Flint, Michigan, have said they'll be calling Perez to support Houston's bid.

"This city would be an outstanding, terrific, fantastic choice," Sylvester said.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Madison Democrat, said Milwaukee is in a "tough contest" and that a convention would provide an economic boost and "would really put us on the map.

"On the political side, I can say that the path to the presidency goes right through Wisconsin," she said.

"Where would you like to be in July of next year? Houston? Miami? Or Milwaukee? It's going to be beautiful here," added Baldwin, who was in Milwaukee to push for the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act.

If Milwaukee gets the convention, beer will likely be a big talking point among the delegates.

"I mean, Wisconsin by far has way better beer than Florida and Texas," said Dan Katt, a co-owner of Good City Brewing, which has a location across the street from Fiserv Forum. "We'd love to have people drinking cold Wisconsin beer."

Patrick Marley contributed to this article.