Hope, patriotism, white-knuckled energy
Editor’s Note: For our continuing Emerging Voices series, Hope Donovan is a New York-based writer from Washington, D.C. and recent New York University graduate who founded Newspective, a student-run digital news platform designed to make current events more accessible to students. Donovan has attended four Democratic conventions and worked on multiple state and federal campaigns in digital and social media, as well as in grassroots organizing, and now reports on the Harris campaign.
Upon entering Chicago’s United Center for the 2024 Democratic Convention, a palpable sense of catharsis and joyous celebration filled the air, marking a collective release from recent past uncertainties. It was a convention of delegates eager to embrace their new nominee, Kamala Harris.
The enthusiasm in the arena sometimes came off as white-knuckled, gripped by cautious disbelief in how good things were going. I can’t help but wonder what the mood would have been if Biden was still the nominee, and you could tell that the same question was lingering in the back of everyone else’s mind.
But the anxiety-driven organizing, which had barely kept the Democratic Party unified behind Biden in the months before he ended his reelection bid, had now been replaced with a euphoric belief in the present and hope for the future.
The Kamala vibe
On the first night, I was worried that the enthusiasm in the room would be unsustainable. Instead, for nearly four hours, speech after speech from top Democrats built on each other and brought down a packed house of more than 2,000 delegates, media, and guests. A stirring hour-long address by President Biden capped this. The energy never wavered. It remained urgent, reflecting the intense uncertainty of the past six months.
The palpable consciousness of how grim things looked just weeks ago drove the room’s unprecedented energy and sense of urgency.
I have attended four Democratic conventions, but this one felt very different. The palpable consciousness of how grim things looked just weeks ago drove the room’s unprecedented energy and sense of urgency. I have three big reasons why I think this happened.
On pop culture madness:
Harris’ social media team is largely responsible for kick-starting her unexpected campaign by creating a massive influx of uncharacteristically optimistic Gen-Z support. However, there was a notable lack of @kamalaHQ TikTok-style content inside the convention hall—and it was for the best.
This was a test for Harris’ content team to see if they could wrangle their success with Gen-Z-oriented humor into the convention without isolating the rest with inside internet jokes. In my mind, they passed this test with flying colors. As many fun videos played between speakers as serious ones, effectively using each tone when appropriate. There were also minimal references to the viral moments created by @kamalaHQ, which communicated that the campaign has a strong sense of when to engage with the social media world and when to keep the message grounded in reality.
On Patriotism:
Patriotism and American values were a surprise focal point of Harris’s acceptance speech and the convention as a whole—a surprise, I think, to Democrats more than anyone else.
Since Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War, the Republican party has had near-total custody over the American flag—and, more importantly, a monopoly on defining what it represents.
Not anymore. The surprise of the convention was the USA posters and American flags everywhere. “U-S-A” chants broke out at least once every 30 minutes, and speaker after speaker used their time to reclaim and redefine a new, progress-oriented patriotism.
Florida Gen-Z Congressman Maxwell Frost described patriotism as “actually giving a damn about the people who live in this country. Because when you love somebody, you want them to have clean air. When you love somebody, you want them to have safe drinking water.”
Speakers and campaign videos made it very clear that Trump and MAGA Republicans have no license to call themselves patriots at all, repeatedly presenting the January 6th insurrection and Trump’s relationship with Putin as evidence.
Harris drove the message home in her acceptance speech: While Trump puts himself first, she said, she puts the American people first.
Harris drove the message home in her acceptance speech: While Trump puts himself first, she said, she puts the American people first. This contrast underpinned the entire convention, emboldening a newfound sense of patriotism among Democrats based on mutual care and collective action—particularly when juxtaposed with Trump’s well-documented narcissism.
On Policy:
Since announcing her candidacy, Republicans have attacked Harris for not presenting a clear, actionable set of policies, instead sticking to vague promises on gun control, lowering drug costs, and other priorities of the Biden administration.
What else do you expect a sitting vice president to do? Her policies as president will undoubtedly differ from those of Biden. However, she is in an awkward position. She can’t really rebuke her boss’s policies.
In terms of how this played out during the convention, I think it worked in her favor. We’re only now meeting Kamala, the candidate, as opposed to Kamala, the vice president. It’s been just over one month since Biden withdrew his reelection bid, so it makes sense that we’re still in the storytelling phase of her campaign. Voters need to know who she is, what she cares about, and what she’s accomplished before they can even think about the specifics of her policy plans.
There is also political reality. In 2016, the Democrats learned the hard way that their carefully considered facts and figures were no match for their opponent’s pathological dissembling. It’s been a different game since Trump entered the arena: dollar values and data points don’t mean as much as they used to when his cult of personality dismisses them as alternative facts or government conspiracies.
It’s about character
Knowing this, I don’t really need to know at this very moment the specific points of how Harris plans to protect abortion rights—I mostly care that she cares.
What matters most is the major candidates in this election share radically different fidelity to the truth, morality, justice, and concern for the future of the nation. This was a week to introduce Harris to the American people as someone who cares about them and defends fundamental rights—rights that Trump has and will continue to sign away for his own personal gain.
Old-timers and up-and-coming leaders came together in a remarkable show of force to help Harris and Walz as they redefine both patriotism and the party line on new terms.
To this end, Harris made sure the convention was a celebration of people–American people: childhood friends, family members, former colleagues from California and the Senate, victims of gun violence, and sexual abuse trafficking survivors, amongst others. They all took to the stage to recount how Harris has stood up for them and others like them. These moments served as a vivid contrast to her opponent’s self-absorbed demagoguery.
Kamala: For the people
As speakers shared their harrowing stories of loss and pain caused by Republican policies on guns, abortion, and criminal justice, I began to get a sense of the kind of person who now feels they have a place and a voice within the Harris campaign but also who they don’t trust with their grief and longing for change.
That is why this was not the week for the details of how Harris plans to implement her policy plans. Instead, it was the right time and place to introduce Kamala Harris, the candidate, to the American people. After the last four days, I can confidently say I know her story, her accomplishments, her values, and her vision.
Harris and her team know the debate next month will be the right time to sharpen those policy details and jab Trump where he’s weakest and most extreme.
On to November
The path to victory for Democrats is clearer than it has been for a very long time, thanks to this convention. Here, old-timers and up-and-coming leaders came together in a remarkable show of force to help Harris and Walz as they redefine both patriotism and the party line on new terms. New terms that will forever change America for the better if they are elected.
Featured photo credit: Lorie Shaull
