Big D Still in the Running for 2016 GOP Convention

Dallas’ hopes of landing the 2016 national Republican Party convention remain alive after the city was named one of two finalists for the event. Cleveland is the other finalist.

Denver and Kansas City were eliminated from contention.

The choice of finalists set up an immediate contrast. Does the party go for a convention in a swing state (Ohio) or one in a solidly red state (Texas)?

But there’s another consideration that could come into play as well — timing.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the choice of Cleveland would allow the party to hold a late June convention, something that Dallas can’t match. The earliest a Dallas convention could happen would be mid-July because of conflicts with potential playoff games at the American Airlines Center, home of Dallas’ professional basketball and hockey teams.

Cleveland has a (supposedly) professional basketball team as well, but, according to The News, city officials have a plan to work around any potential scheduling conflict in June, although the details are not being divulged right now.

A decision on which city plays host to the convention is expected in August.

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A new report from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund is forecasting a big jump in Hispanic voter participation in the upcoming November elections.

The projection is for 1.2 million Texas Latinos to vote, a number that would be about 20 percent more than turnout four years ago, the last time Texans selected their governor and other statewide officials.

Turnout by Hispanic voters has long been reckoned as key to the hopes of Democrats looking to turn the state blue. A big boost in voting by Hispanics, then, is no doubt welcomed by Democrats.

Despite that, there’s still a lot of work to go on getting Hispanics to vote at a rate commensurate with their share of the population. The NALEO report noted that while Texas is 38 percent Latino, their percentage of registered voters in the state is just 22.6 percent.

The report also noted that new voter ID requirements would have an effect on Latino turnout, as would Congress’ lack of action on immigration reform. The latter “will mobilize Latinos who are not yet fully engaged in the political process to cast ballots.”