The Democratic National Committee is weighing five cities to host its 2028 presidential nominating convention while opting not to stage a midterm-focused convention ahead of this fall’s elections.
The DNC will announce that the 2028 convention is set for Aug. 7–10, and the finalist cities are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia, according to people familiar with the planning. The party’s decision to forego a convention-style midterm event marks a break with Republicans, who have been moving toward holding a midterm convention — an idea publicly embraced by former President Trump.
DNC executive director Roger Lau framed the choice as a strategic allocation of resources. “Republicans were baited into wasting time and money on a midterm convention that will sink their swing-seat candidates by tying them directly to Trump’s wildly unpopular policies,” Lau said, adding that the DNC is focusing resources where they’re most needed and pursuing the playbook that helped Democrats flip seats in 2025.
Trump has promoted a midterm convention as a way to showcase Republican accomplishments since 2024. In a September post on his social platform, he wrote that “The Republicans are going to do a Midterm Convention in order to show the great things we have done since the Presidential Election of 2024,” calling it “quite the Event, and very exciting!” The Republican National Committee pushed back on the DNC’s decision, with RNC spokeswoman Kiersten Pels saying the DNC “can’t afford to hold a midterm convention, financially or politically,” and accusing Democrats of lacking the courage to put their agenda before voters.
Presidential-year conventions remain major national events that spotlight a party’s nominees and give lesser-known figures a broad platform. Whether a midterm convention would have similar impact in today’s political environment is uncertain. Still, the stakes for control of Congress are high: if Democrats were to retake the House, they could check much of a presidential agenda in the final two years of a term; Republicans, having unified control of Washington after 2024, have a window to press their policy priorities that could shape voter decisions in November.
Political dynamics this cycle differ from 2018, when Trump-era Republicans suffered midterm losses. In 2018 Democrats netted roughly 40 House seats to regain control. For 2026, the competitive map could be narrow, and many Republican candidates appear more willing to align with Trump than some were in 2018, when a number of GOP incumbents distanced themselves from the president.
Fundraising and cash on hand also factor into party strategy. Federal filings through the end of January showed the RNC with nearly $102 million in the bank, while the DNC reported about $15 million in cash and carried more than $17 million in debt.
Still, Democrats’ strong 2025 election results — including gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia — have injected momentum and optimism into the party heading into this year’s contests. The DNC’s choices about convention planning and resource allocation between now and 2028 are being watched closely as the party seeks to recover from setbacks in 2024 and position itself for the next presidential cycle.
The cities under consideration for 2028 send different political signals. Chicago hosted the DNC in 2024; Boston, Denver and Philadelphia have each been recent hosts for Democratic conventions and are well-traveled political venues. Picking Atlanta would underscore Georgia’s emergence as a high-profile battleground state; the state has been the focus of intense scrutiny after an FBI search in late January at Fulton County election offices related to alleged issues with 2020-era ballots, a probe that drew national attention even as Georgia officials have repeatedly defended the integrity of their elections.
It’s not yet clear when the DNC will name the final host city. “The DNC is proud to be moving forward with our 2028 Democratic National Convention plans, another critical step toward retaking the White House and finally putting an end to Republicans’ betrayal of working families,” party chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.