Convention

In the first quarter of 2020, the Boise Centre was on pace to set attendance and revenue records, but everything came to halt in mid-March. In fact, Idaho's largest meeting facility was hosting a convention when governors in Oregon and Washington issued travel restrictions due to a rapid increase of COVID-19 cases, sending convention attendees to the exits of the Boise Centre.

Idaho Democrats kick off their 2016 state party convention Thursday. It runs through Saturday. Party leaders expect nearly 400 delegates at the Riverside Hotel in Garden City.

The itinerary includes training sessions for candidates and activists and updating the party platform. Idaho Democratic Party spokesman Dean Ferguson says there are a lot of platform changes being proposed but most are tweaks to language in existing planks. Ferguson says one significant change that may be made is calling for a specific increase to the state’s minimum wage.

The Republican National Convention got underway Monday in Tampa. 

Sixty-one delegates from Idaho are there.  Thirty-two are actual delegates, while the rest serve as alternates. Ruthie Johnson of Hayden Lake is among the delegates.  She went to her first GOP convention in 1964.  She’s been to every single one since.  At the age of 88, the Tampa event is her 13th convention.