--- title: Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia description: Democrats have narrowed the list of possible sites for the 2016 presidential convention to New York City, Philadelphia or Columbus, Ohio. canonical: https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-24T19:18:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:20:10.609Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia og:description: Democrats have narrowed the list of possible sites for the 2016 presidential convention to New York City, Philadelphia or Columbus, Ohio. og:url: https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafc783703454239e/6986997a169ab0395627a17d/political-convention-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US Campaign 2012 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia twitter:description: Democrats have narrowed the list of possible sites for the 2016 presidential convention to New York City, Philadelphia or Columbus, Ohio. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafc783703454239e/6986997a169ab0395627a17d/political-convention-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Nov 24, 2014 7:18 PM UTC  President Barack Obama onstage at the Democratic National Convention at the Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, N.C. President Barack Obama onstage at the Democratic National Convention at the Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, N.C.Charles Ommanney—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Nov 24, 2014 7:18 PM UTC The Democratic National Committee announced Monday afternoon that it had narrowed the list of finalist cities to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention to Columbus, New York and Philadelphia. The announcement comes after a round of visits by DNC technical advisors to five semifinalist cities, including Birmingham and Phoenix. Cleveland was initially a semifinalist, but was removed from contention once it was selected earlier this year to host the 2016 Republican National Convention. “We’re thrilled to move to the next step of the selection process to determine where Democrats will come together to nominate the 45th President of the United States,” said DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a statement. “We are fortunate to have such a diverse and vibrant group of cities interested in hosting this special event and we thank Phoenix and Birmingham for showcasing their special communities.” The Democratic National Committee is considering three dates for the convention: the weeks of July 18, July 25, and August 22, 2016\. The date and location will be finalized early next year, but indicate that Democrats are considering following Republicans in moving the convention earlier in the summer, freeing up general election dollars earlier for their eventual nominee. The Republican National Convention will start either on June 27 or July 18, 2016, according to the Republican National Committee, with a final determination expected in the new year. Central to the DNC’s thinking as it further narrows the list will be the host city’s ability to come up with the tens of millions necessary to fund a convention, particularly now that Congress has withdrawn public financing of the quadrennial Republican and Democratic gatherings. The 2012 DNC convention in Charlotte ended up deeply in debt, with Duke Energy forgiving a $10 million loan to the host committee, despite President Barack Obama’s pledge that his convention would not accept corporate donations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/"},"headline":"Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia","datePublished":"2014-11-24T19:18:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:20:10.609Z","description":"Also considering moving it earlier in the summer","url":"https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafc783703454239e/6986997a169ab0395627a17d/political-convention-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltafc783703454239e/6986997a169ab0395627a17d/political-convention-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Campaign 2012","caption":"US Campaign 2012","creditText":"Charles Ommanney—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3602958/2016-democratic-convention-columbus-new-york-philadelphia/","name":"Democrats Narrow Convention to Columbus, New York or Philadelphia"}}]}] ```