May 28. Former Cornelius Commissioner Thom Tillis—who would play a major role in the Republican National Convention if it’s held in Charlotte—thinks it will still happen here, despite President Trump’s recent comments threatening to move it elsewhere.

Interviewed on WBT Radio Thursday morning the US Senator said the convention is going to be in Charlotte.

“It’s going to be a little bit different than what we envisioned back in February,” he said.

Tillis, who said he expects that the RNC and city and state officials will work out a plan, pointed out that the event is defined as an extraordinary event by the Secret Service so  advance planning is crucial.

“When you have an event scheduled for 50,000 and you are looking ahead at what type of size crowd this may be, you have to look at the original strategy for moving people around,” Tillis, now a Huntersville resident, said.

Tillis noted that the RNC must also poll potential attendees.”We gotta go out to the delegates and see how many of them are willing to come, too,” he said.

Thom Tillis won election to the US Senate six years ago

The convention is scheduled for August 24-27, and was expected to pump as much as $200 million into the regional economy. Hotels, motels and restaurants, including some in the Lake Norman area, played a significant role in the Democratic convention eight years ago, and were expected to do so again this year.