Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said on Friday afternoon that the city is shooting to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
“I can confirm that Denver has submitted a bid to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention,” wrote Johnston’s spokesperson Jon Ewing in a statement.
He declined to say more about the bid, first reported as a possibility by Westword in October. The competitive process is secretive and cities are limited in how much information they can share.
Denver last hosted the event in 2008, when Barack Obama was nominated to be the party’s candidate for president. Prior to that, it had not hosted the convention since 1908, when populist firebrand William Jennings Bryan got the Democratic nod.
The city has never hosted a Republican National Convention, though it made a bid and lost in 2016.
Hosting political conventions is a big boost for tourism — but it also comes with challenges.
The 2008 DNC brought in $266 million in economic benefit to the metro and $154 million to the city. Chicago estimates the economic benefit of hosting the DNC in 2024 was $371 million.
In addition to revenue, political conventions often bring mass protests, traffic snarls and heightened security concerns.
When the DNC came to Denver’s Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) in 2008, thousands of federal agents descended on the city.
Denver police mobilized 1,500 officers from around the region for the response and spent $2.1 million on protective gear, $1.4 million on barricades and $850,000 on other supplies, The New York Times reported. Law enforcement often uses the events to test new technologies.
Boosters tout the city’s accessibility through Denver International Airport and the A-Line to downtown, the city center’s hotels, restaurants and cultural amenities, and Denver’s track record hosting big events.
“We look forward to taking part in what is expected to be a very competitive process and will share more information as we are able,” Ewing wrote.
