The Republican National Convention (RNC) is currently on the books to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina in August. However, recent events have brought those plans into question. On Memorial Day, President Donald Trump tweeted out a string of tweets criticizing Gov. Roy Cooper’s “shutdown mood,” which could keep the Spectrum Center from operating at full capacity for the event. Trump Tweeted:

President Trump went even further, as Carolina Journal’s Lindsay Marchello explains:

Late Tuesday, after Cooper’s news briefing, Trump backed up his threat with a deadline: The president gave the governor a week to guarantee a convention without limits or the GOP would move it.

Gov. Cooper does not appear swayed by what trump had to say. Marchello writes:

The Cooper administration won’t make any such guarantees. Instead, the governor said he’ll use data and science to determine what an August convention would look like. 

“I’m not surprised by anything that I see on Twitter,” Cooper said in response to Trump’s tweets. “It is OK for political conventions to be political, but pandemic response cannot be.”

In the wake of this news, other southeastern states have expressed their desire to host the convention. Marchello writes:

Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, tweeted that he hopes Trump would consider the Peach State as a host. Florida, too, wants a bite at the apple.

“Florida is committed to ensuring a safe, secure, and successful event,” said Joe Gruters, the Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, in a statement obtained by Politico

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry told Politico’s Playbook the city is interested in hosting the event. 

“In fact, we’ve demonstrated our ability to lead events in a safe, responsible way as demonstrated by the world’s first pro live sporting event” — a UFC contest earlier this month  — “since COVID-19,” said Curry. 

Only time will tell whether or not the convention will leave, but the deadline President Trump established is coming up fast.

Read the full story in Carolina Journal here. Learn more about the fallout from coronavirus in North Carolina here.