RNC signs contract for 2016 convention in Cleveland

The Republican National Committee, holding its summer meeting in Chicago, on Friday signed the contract to clinch Cleveland as the site of the RNC’s 2016 presidential convention. Ohio is a swing state but Cleveland is a Democratic city in a Democratic county with a Democratic mayor–Frank Jackson–who came to Chicago for the signing ceremony at the Westin Hotel. The convention will be at the Quicken Loans Arena, known at “The Q” with another large venue, the adjacent Progressive Field also fielding events.

The Cleveland host committee, co-chaired by Chris Connor, the Chairman and CEO of Sherwin-Williams, already has raised $30 million, with two years to collect the targeted $55 million needed for the event. Connor, who presides over the giant paint company joking about the signature colors for the parties: GOP, red; Democrats, blue; jokes about a “ban on the sale of blue paint. Red paint is where it is at.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland and a guitar was in front of the podium with the Cleveland 2016 slogan, “Start Here. Finish Here.”