Democrats are determined to hold their August convention to boost Joe Biden's campaign, even as coronavirus continues to spread across the country

• The coronavirus pandemic has canceled hundreds of major events like concerts, sports, and conferences.
• Nearly a dozen Democratic officials and DNC members located in crucial swing states told Insider that they're still planning on attending the Democratic National Convention in August.
• Some Democrats argue that on top of the acute public health risks this year, conventions themselves are outdated, ineffective, and too expensive to justify the effort.
• Convention attendees want the show to go on because they are energizing events that motivate Democrats and rally the party base.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Democrats aren't giving up on gathering for their national convention in Milwaukee just yet.

It's actually the opposite. Some of the party's most faithful members continue to hold out hope that the coronavirus pandemic will abate to the point they can gather later this summer to formally nominate Joe Biden with an energizing event that motivates the party and rallies its base for the uphill fight to defeat President Donald Trump.

In fact, nearly a dozen party officials and Democratic National Committee members from swing states told Insider that they're still planning on attending the 2020 convention in Wisconsin's largest city— and they're looking to the DNC for guidance on how it plans to hold an in-person gathering safely.

"As a member of the DNC who has attended every national convention since 1984, I know that there is a real value in being together with all the members of your tribe who believe what you do, have the same goal, and who are prepared to lead their state," said Alma Gonzalez, a DNC member and former treasurer of the Florida Democratic Party.

But it is still unclear whether Democrats like Gonzalez will get their wish.

Coronavirus cases in the United States continue to mount with no clear end in sight and no comprehensive plan for containing the outbreak. For now, Democrats remain on guard that the entire convention could be cancelled, partially called off or moved to an all-digital format.

The DNC has already officially delayed its convention once from the original July 16-20 schedule. Biden is now set to pick up the party nomination during the week of August 17, just before Republicans meet in Charlotte, North Carolina, to formally tap Trump as their party's nominee.

"We're not going to put our public health head in the sand, but I'm optimistic that we can do so because we've put it off for five weeks," DNC Chairman Tom Perez said Sunday on ABC News' "This Week."

"We're working with all of the public health experts — state, federal, local — and I'm excited about Milwaukee," Perez added.

The sheer size of the convention poses a public health challenge

In 2016, an estimated 50,000 Democratic party officials and activists, journalists, and other visitors attended the last convention in Philadelphia.

Many public health officials warn that even if the worst of the outbreak subsides, it won't be safe to hold large gatherings like sporting events, concerts, and other conferences until the United States has a deployable vaccine on the market.

That's troubling news for the Democratic party, which picked Wisconsin as its convention site due to the state's position as a key 2020 battleground for winning the White House. The city of Milwaukee has plenty at stake too. The prospect of hosting such a big event with tens of thousands of attendees from around the country would be a boon to a city economy hampered by the pandemic, though a gathering the size of an annual national party convention also represents a major public health risk.

"Multiple experts across the globe are currently evaluating the best way to bring communities back on line and manage the risk that COVID presents to normal life," Shawn Benjamin, a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Health Department, told Insider. "It's still a highly dynamic situation that we are still working to address, based on the best science available."

Attending such a crowded event in the midst of a pandemic poses risks for everyone involved.

In addition to the thousands of pledged delegates from around the country who are slated to travel to Wisconsin to vote to select the nominee, every member of Congress, governor, DNC member, and former president or House speaker gets a ticket to the Democratic convention as a superdelegate.

While the DNC has adopted rule changes since 2016 that have made superdelegates far less powerful in the actual nomination process, hundreds of important elected officials — including many older ones at high risk for contracting COVID-19, do plan to attend the party convention.

Already, multiple lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19. Republicans meantime experienced first hand the danger of holding a large gathering when many were exposed to the deadly virus at the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual gathering in northern Virginia in late February.

Some Democrats question the need for a convention

Complications posed by the pandemic have prompted some Democratic leaders to question the value in even hosting elaborate and expensive conventions. They perceive the events to be a holdover from a bygone era where parties held substantially more power over American politics than they do now.

"We've been doing conventions wrong for years," Lis Smith, a senior communications adviser to former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, wrote in a May 7 New York Times op-ed. "Days and days of mediocre speeches from politicians unknown to the public, programming that puts even political junkies to sleep. They're prohibitively expensive, time-intensive, and of limited value in reaching anyone but true believers."

Smith, a former campaign aide for President Barack Obama in 2012 and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley in 2016, also argued that conventions are "overrated in their ability to fundamentally shift the dynamics of a presidential race."

"Do you remember when the 2016 Democratic convention in Philadelphia helped swing Pennsylvania for Hillary Clinton or the 2012 Republican convention in Tampa delivered Florida for Mitt Romney?" she wrote.

Others see things differently. Selecting and celebrating a nominee with fanfare and a cascade of balloons and confetti from the ceiling may be what grabs all the headlines. But it isn't the only business of a convention.

In addition to pledged delegates formally voting to make Biden their party's nominee, a number of key committees will meet to debate and vote on the official convention rules and the Democratic Party's platform for 2020.

Committee meetings will be especially critical for Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who came closest to beating Biden. His supporters are angling to exert lasting influence over the party platform with an eye on driving a possible Democratic administration to the left should it hold the levers of power in Washington come 2021.

While Sanders suspended his campaign last month and is no longer actively campaigning, he is still on the ballot and earning delegates in the remaining primary states that still haven't voted. The Vermont senator is aiming to meet the benchmark of earning 25% of all pledged delegates allocated throughout the process, which would give him and his representatives key spots on the rules and platform committees.

Symbolism matters too

Democrats have other reasons why they want to meet in Milwaukee too.

For one, conventions are often platforms to elevate rising stars in the party. Obama rose to national prominence as an Illinois state legislator with his speech at the 2004 convention in Boston. In 2012, Julian Castro, then the mayor of San Antonio, delivered remarks in Charlotte that earned plaudits and helped kickstart a career that later led to a spot in Obama's Cabinet and his own 2020 presidential run.

Party officials told Insider that the convention also represents more than just voting on the nominee or formally selecting a new party platform. As nearly every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic becomes politicized, even the act of canceling their convention could be used by Trump's campaign as a political lightning rod.

"The political stakes are very high," said Gary Stark, the chairman of Michigan's Kent County Democratic party. "Neither party wants to be the first to cancel its convention, and a virtual convention would receive far less national television and press coverage than would a live convention."

Gilberto Hinojosa, the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, told Insider that the value in the convention isn't just about formally selecting the nominee, but about symbolically kicking off the general election and motivating party members.

Hinojosa said that the need to gather in a positive environment can energize the party and serve as an essential bookmark moment ahead of a general election where the party is also trying to defend its House majority, flip control of the Senate and win down-ballot state and local races.

"The prevailing feeling among members of the party is hopeful, and we need to hear that from our leaders as we go into his election," he said. "The convention is like a pep rally to gather the troops and start the campaign for November."

Dave Wils, the chairman of the Democratic Party in North Carolina's Republican-held 6th congressional district, told Insider that the prospect of holding a convention would be a huge plus for party morale under incredibly difficult circumstances.

"There is certainly nothing like gathering with fellow Democrats from across the country in the spirit of unity and enthusiasm for our platform and our candidate, and if it is safe, we absolutely should," he said.

But Wils also warned that if the outbreak hasn't improved by the summer, or if the US already sees a second wave by that point, then the convention should be shifted to an entirely virtual event.

An in-person convention could be shortened or adapted

Bill Roe, the former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, told Insider that while he attended the last three conventions, he would be wary of doing so this year at age 78, and hasn't yet made plans to do so.

"I worked with Tom Perez and doubt he would allow anything to proceed that would be unsafe, but can not predict anything in this year 2020," he said, adding that "a lot of technical issues," including the safety of flying and Milwaukee's own capacity to provide security for the event are still up in the air.

Hinojosa suggested Democrats may want to tinker with their plans for the convention. For example, he said the most arduous business of the convention – like the days-long committee meetings to vote on the party platform — could be conducted virtually. He also said the entire process could be consolidated into two or three days, instead of four.

"We're three and a half months out from the convention, and hopefully the crisis will be much under control than it is right now. But I expect we're going to see a lot of the business of the platform, for example, handled digitally beforehand," he said. "The consensus is that we'd need two to three days to condense the convention in a way that is safe."

Nikki Ford Barnes, a DNC member from Florida, also told Insider that she expects a more scaled-back event this year.

"At this time I am planning on attending the convention in person as planned. I don't foresee it being the usual BIG event," she said. "I'm honestly expecting a modified convention, with just the 4,000 or so voting delegation focused on the nomination and Biden presenting his [vice president]."

Already, state and local officials have had to adjust to holding their local district and county conventions, where delegates are formally elected to represent their candidate of choice at the national convention, virtually.

Laurel Birch-Kilgore, the chairwoman of the Wake County Democratic Party in North Carolina, told Insider that while their digital convention was more "subdued" than normal, delegates are still looking forward to the national convention.

"Generally there is a sense that we are going to be using virtual meetings into the foreseeable future, probably throughout this election cycle," she said. "However, there is enthusiasm for a national convention among some of our members, one saying she will definitely attend regardless of risk."

Jane Whitley, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, told Insider that her virtual convention to select national delegates went off without problems.

"Interestingly, I received a lot of very positive feedback about the online county convention," she said. "I don't know whether that will transfer over to their feelings about the national convention, but I was pleasantly surprised that we received so many compliments."

Because COVID-19 is a relatively new and still somewhat mysterious virus, much remains unknown about how the pandemic will evolve by August. But despite the possible risks, Democratic activists said that not holding any kind of in-person gathering would be a big loss in the battle against Trump.

"Nothing can replace the human interaction and contact that you experience at a national meeting of true believers," Gonzalez said. "So much information is exchanged. So much growth happens. Listening first hand to our leaders and meeting them in person energizes an activist like nothing else can."