ATLANTA — City Hall’s response to losing the 2028 Democratic National Convention race was not a shrug. It was a letter.
According to WSB-TV’s Courtney Martinez, reporting Aug. 20, Mayor Andre Dickens is calling out national Democrats after DNC Chair Ken Martin said Atlanta will not host the 2028 convention. WSB reports the three remaining finalists are Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia, and that Atlanta and Chicago — both finalists for the 2024 convention — have been removed from consideration.
What the letter says
Channel 2 says it obtained, through sources, a copy of Dickens’ response. In the text WSB published, the mayor argues the decision could not have been based on Atlanta’s ability to host major events, citing the city’s recent World Cup host ranking and State Farm Arena’s national profile.
Key lines from the letter as printed by WSB include:
- “The DNC continues to make the wrong choices.”
- A claim that excluding Atlanta from the shortlist means the DNC does not consider Atlanta or Georgia relevant to the party’s past, present, or future.
- An assertion that Chair Martin is contradicting his own line that “the road to the White House runs through the South.”
- Language that the party is “afraid to leave their comfort zone” and is “abandoning Atlanta, abandoning the South, and once again abandoning Black voters.”
- A note that Atlanta has not hosted a convention in nearly 40 years.
Dickens also frames the moment against national politics, writing that with “Trump and the Supreme Court … minimizing Black electoral power,” the party needed a Southeast galvanizing stop in 2028 — and instead, in his words, leadership is “running scared” toward “safe spaces.”
Process context
This package is a host-city shortlist story plus a mayoral reaction, not a signed contract, not a venue cancellation, and not a claim that any other city has already locked the convention. WSB’s earlier local framing called the non-selection a “missed opportunity”; the mayor’s letter is the primary reaction document for Atlanta’s side.
What to watch
- Whether the DNC issues a fuller explanation beyond Martin’s finalist list.
- Whether other Georgia Democrats echo Dickens’ South/Black-voter framing.
- The remaining Boston / Denver / Philadelphia process on the national side.
Primary sources: WSB-TV — Dickens blasts ‘wrong choices’ by DNC; WSB-TV — Leaders say DNC not choosing Atlanta is a missed opportunity.
