LIVE from Detroit: Netroots Nation 2015 will be in Phoenix, Arizona next July 16th — 19th

Con­tin­u­ing a tra­di­tion begun last year in San Jose, Net­roots Nation exec­u­tive direc­tor Raven Brooks has cho­sen to reveal the loca­tion of next year’s con­ven­tion on open­ing night so that ear­ly-bird tick­et sales can begin while this year’s con­ven­tion is still under­way. Net­roots Nation 2015 will be held in Phoenix, Ari­zona, from July 16th — 19th, and immi­gra­tion reform will be a major top­ic of discussion.

“We haven’t yet won on this leg­isla­tive­ly and we haven’t yet won with the Oba­ma admin­is­tra­tion,” not­ed Brooks. “We’re mind­ful that we’re about to launch into the 2016 pres­i­den­tial cycle and it’s time to step up as a move­ment on this issue.”

“We want every­one aspir­ing for office in 2016 — from the Pres­i­dent to the Sen­ate to Con­gress to local elect­ed offices – to know that if you don’t sup­port tak­ing real action on immi­gra­tion reform, then you won’t win our community’s support.”

Next year’s con­ven­tion will be the fourth held west of the Rocky Moun­tains. Pre­vi­ous gath­er­ings took place in Las Vegas (2006), Chica­go (2007), Austin (2008), Pitts­burgh (2009), Las Vegas (2010), Min­neapo­lis (2011), Prov­i­dence (2012), and San Jose (2013), pri­or to Detroit this year.

Inter­est­ing­ly, the con­ven­tion has nev­er been held in a city observ­ing Moun­tain Time. Ari­zona falls with­in that zone, but the time there cor­re­sponds to the Pacif­ic time zone in the sum­mer, spring, and autumn because the state does­n’t both­er with day­light sav­ings time like most of the country.

The aver­age high in Phoenix in July is one hun­dred and three degrees Fahren­heit, so it will be plen­ty hot out­side, but the con­ven­tion will, for the most part, be in an air-con­di­tioned build­ing. Net­roots Nation orga­niz­ers have not yet announced the host hotels or offi­cial venue, but pre­sum­ably it’s the Phoenix Con­ven­tion Center.