Dallas or Cleveland will host the 2016 Republican National Convention, the party announced Wednesday.
Denver and Kansas City, Mo., have been eliminated by RNC officials.
“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’s Site Selection Committee Chairwoman Enid Mickelsen said in a statement.
{mosads}Dallas already has a big head start in fundraising because of the state’s major events fund, which could contribute $25 million toward the $60 million or more needed, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Ohio’s Republican Party, Matt Borges, told The Cleveland Plain Dealer that he had heard rumblings of Cleveland being eliminated, though that was prior to the RNC’s announcement Wednesday.
The announcement comes more than a month after the RNC eliminated Las Vegas and Cincinnati from their list of potential sites. The RNC is scheduled for June 2016.
Cleveland is also in the running to host the Democratic National Convention in 2016. Birmingham, Ala.; Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix, Philadelphia and New York are the other potential host cities.
New York City Bill de Blasio publicly released the Big Apple’s video pitch to be the host site on Tuesday. He has previously said he’d like Brooklyn, specifically, to host the convention.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday he was disappointed that the RNC had eliminated his hometown of Kansas City from contention. Earnest said he had personally lobbied RNC Chairman Reince Preibus to hold the 2016 convention there.
“In hindsight, may have backfired,” Earnest joked in a Twitter chat.
This story was updated at 5:33 p.m.