It has been less than one month since Vice President Kamala Harris became the new Democratic presidential nominee and a week since Minnesota Governor Tim Walz became her vice-presidential running mate. Both Harris and Walz are slated to attend this year’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, where delegates from across the country and U.S. territories will convene from August 19-22 to rally around the Harris Walz campaign.
Even though this historic campaign is in its infancy, it has gotten off to a roaring start after Biden stepped down from the race. Leaders in the Democratic party quickly threw their support behind Harris who “accumulated more than enough delegate support to win the nomination within the first 24 hours. She quickly re-energized voters, raising over $300 million and hosting rallies with crowd sizes topping 10,000 people,” USA Today reports.
In an unusual move, the Democrats have already certified Harris and Walz as the nominees via a virtual roll call ahead of the convention. Harris will formally accept the nomination at the 2024 DNC, and the delegates will also develop a comprehensive platform for the Democratic party around key issues such as the economy, immigration, and reproductive rights.
This year, the convention will take place at two separate Windy City venues: “The United Center, an arena on the city’s West Side, will host evening events — that is, the prime-time programming and speeches intended for public consumption. McCormick Place, which is downtown near Lake Michigan, will host daytime events, largely official party business and meetings.”
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison shared that some of the reasoning behind picking Chicago as the host city had to do with “the city’s labor connections and its immediate readiness to handle roughly 50,000 visitors, 20,000 members of the media and 5,500 delegates, alternates and other guests expected to come to the convention.”
According to the White House, President Biden is expected to appear as a speaker. In addition, some sources revealed that former President Obama, Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might even be on the schedule, ABC News reports.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said that Biden is “looking forward to, as he tends to do, speak directly to the American people…talk about the moment that we’re at, what’s at stake, and continue to talk about an issue that is incredibly important to him, which is unity, making sure that we’re unified and we continue to do the work that the president has been successful in doing in the past three and a half years.”
“I think you can expect this president to take this moment,” Jean-Pierre stated. “He understands this is an incredibly important moment … He’s still very much the leader of the party, right? And he takes that very seriously. And he’s also very proud of his vice president.”
Similar to their Republican counterparts’ convention, a large number of protesters are expected, and have been in contentious talks with city officials over permitting. The Coalition to March on the D.N.C., a coalition of progressive organizations, has planned marches for the convention’s first and last days, which will primarily rally around the opposition of Israel and the war in Gaza, which many Democrats have publicly supported.
