Biden won’t travel to Milwaukee to accept nomination

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee to accept his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention due to concerns about the surging coronavirus.

Biden will instead accept the nomination from his home state of Delaware. 

The development marks the latest impact the pandemic has had on the party nominating process in the U.S. ahead of November’s general election. 

“From the very beginning of this pandemic, we put the health and safety of the American people first,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We followed the science, listened to the doctors and public health experts, and we continued making adjustments to our plans in order to protect lives. That’s the kind of steady and responsible leadership America deserves,” he continued.

DNC Secretary Jason Rae contacted delegates last month and described the process for the convention, noting that the planning committee “concluded that state delegations should not plan to travel to Milwaukee and official convention business will be conducted remotely.”

The Republican National Convention has also been rocked by the coronavirus. President Trump announced on Wednesday that he was considering delivering his convention speech from the White House. 

“We’re thinking about it. It would be the easiest from the standpoint of security,” Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends.” “We’re thinking about doing it from the White House because there’s no movement.”

“It’s easy, and I think it’s a beautiful setting and we are thinking about that. It’s certainly one of the alternatives,” he added. 

Trump is expected to attend some GOP convention business in Charlotte, N.C. 

He was initially slated to deliver his acceptance address from Jacksonville, Fla., but announced last month that the scheduled Florida convention activities would no longer be hosted there, citing rising coronavirus cases in the state. 

“I told my team it’s time to cancel the Jacksonville component of the GOP convention,” Trump told reporters at a news conference at the White House. “I’ll still do a convention speech in a different form, but we won’t do a big crowded convention per se. It’s just not the right time for that.”

Max Greenwood contributed to this report. Updated at 2:20 p.m.