A Second Convention, In The Second City

A few quick notes after the DNC

I had to double check this because on a cellular level, it felt like it couldn’t possibly be true - but it was just over a month ago that President Joe Biden announced he would step aside from the presidential race and throw his support to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Since then, we’ve seen Democrats formally nominate Harris as the party’s nominee; a variety of affinity groups - including Christians and Republicans - hold fundraisers on her behalf; continued tension within the party over Israel policy; and a continued focus on abortion rights as a galvanizing issue for Democrats.

This past week in Chicago, I spent time on the sidelines of the DNC covering all of those issues: visiting a mobile Planned Parenthood clinic that was offering medication abortion and vasectomies not far from the DNC; interviewing families of Israeli-American hostages; stopping by a reception held by some Republicans who are now supporting Harris and writing about the campaign’s larger effort to gain Republican support.

I rounded out the week by hosting a special NPR Politics Podcast episode marking RFK Jr.’s semi-departure from the presidential race, and stopping by member station WBEZ, where NPR’s Scott Simon (who has mentioned once or twice on air that he’s from Chicago) and his colleagues at Weekend Edition were hosting a special Chicago lovefest DNC-focused show.

But I also went inside - for the last couple of nights - and it does feel different from what you see on TV. From the cheap seats where the press sits, you have a panoramic view of the room, and you can feel the crowd roar when Oprah or the Obamas took the stage. Not to mention hearing Stevie Wonder and PINK in person.

So it’s long, long hours but definitely not all bad.

On the whole - with their star-studded lineup and young-for-politics nominee - the Democrats’ convention was a completely different vibe from the Republican National Convention last month - and a completely different vibe from one many Democrats thought they’d be having just over a month ago, before everything changed.