Democrats to decide among Boston, Denver, Philadelphia for 2028 convention

Democrats on Thursday narrowed down their top three cities for the 2028 national convention, spotlighting Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as viable options for the party to introduce its presidential nominee.

“Each city presented strong bids to host an inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee and a critical step on our path to retaking the White House,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin wrote in a post on social platform X .

“We look forward to continuing to work with them as the DNC makes a final selection over the coming months,” he added.

It’s been 10 years since Philadelphia last hosted the convention in 2016 followed by the 2008 convention in Denver and a 2004 stop in Boston.

Officials with the Democratic Party visited all three locations earlier this year in April and May alongside Atlanta and Chicago, which were knocked off the final list of potential sites.

The three selected cities offer broad insight into whose attention the party is looking to capture in the next presidential election.

Denver has been home to a growing progressive faction within the party, made evident by democratic socialist Melat Kiros, who beat incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) in the June primary.

Meanwhile, Boston has a strong blue donor base and is in one of the states former Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential election. It’s also widely known as the “birthplace of American values” with deep ties to the foundation of the country’s democracy.

President Trump won the state of Pennsylvania in the last presidential election and also survived an assassination attempt in Butler, which drove political fanfare for the leader ahead of his return to the White House.

Harris failed to capture Black male voters in the city of “brotherly love,” but Democrats now have a chance to solidify support in the crucial swing state with an organized labor backbone tied to the union workforce.

Martin is expected to finalize the city for the 2028 Democratic National Convention in the coming months.

However, he faced extreme pushback from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) for not selecting the city as one of the final options for the party’s convention.

Dickens said the measure was an attempt to abandon the South and Black voters, despite Democrats’ recent decision to keep South Carolina as the first in the nation primary for the party.