Democrats will hold their 2020 national convention in Milwaukee, the biggest city in a swing state where Donald Trump scored an upset in 2016.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez chose the Wisconsin city over Houston and Miami.
The convention is scheduled for July 13-16, 2020. The event will mark the first time in more than 100 years that Democrats will nominate their presidential candidate in a Midwest city other than Chicago.
"If we're going to take back the White House, restore the guard rails of our democracy, and make government work for American families, we need to earn it," Perez said in a statement Monday in announcing the selection of Milwaukee. "We need to fight alongside our brothers and sisters in labor to build a brighter future together, and empower the diversity of our party and country."
Perez said he's "thrilled" Milwaukee will host the convention.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin said that Milwaukee's "long history with socialism" makes the city the "obvious choice" for Democrats, using recent GOP talking points to frame the decision. Milwaukee had three socialist mayors in the 20th Century, according to the Milwaukee Independent.
"No city in America has stronger ties to socialism than Milwaukee," Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Wisconsin GOP, said in a statement following the DNC's announcement. "And with the rise of Bernie Sanders and the embrace of socialism by its newest leaders, the American left has come full circle. It's only fitting the Democrats would come to Milwaukee."
In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin to Trump by a narrow margin. She had expected to win the state and was criticized for not campaigning there. Barack Obama was victorious in Wisconsin in his two presidential campaigns.
Though Wisconsin voters favored Trump, they have since re-elected Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin and voted in Democrats Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
The Republicans are slated to hold their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Aug. 24-27, 2020.