One month ago, Democrats watched with envy and dismay as Republicans demonstrated their energy and unity with a lively party convention that showcased Donald Trump’s dominant position in the race against President Joe Biden.
Now, after one of the most momentous shifts in political atmospherics in modern history, Democrats have been buoyed by a new standard-bearer and sense of optimism as they prepare to begin their own nominating convention Monday in Chicago.
Biden will speak on the first day of the convention before leaving town, a symbolic changing of the guard that highlights how his decision to abruptly end his reelection bid upended the race.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has ridden a wave of enthusiasm in a party that had been riven by angst over Biden’s weak poll numbers, will cap the programming Thursday with a speech designed to introduce herself to the nation and highlight the historic nature of her unexpected candidacy. The unprecedented turn of events has added to the sense of unpredictability that has marked an election already rocked by a history-changing debate, one candidate’s felony convictions and an assassination attempt during a political rally.
“It is remarkable,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. “An incredibly important election, which made the Democratic convention interesting from the start, is now truly distinct. The entire ticket has changed, the energy is different, and what the party is putting forth as the faces of the party has transformed the terms of the competition.”
While much about the convention has changed in recent weeks, the party gathering will no doubt feature a steady dose of criticism of Republican nominee Trump, who has seen his campaign upended since he rose from the ground and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” after surviving an assassination attempt last month. In recent days, he has been flailing in public as polls show him ceding his advantage in the race to Harris.
Democrats hope to use the four-day convention to build on their momentum, balancing their attacks on Trump with a push to boost Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), in the minds of millions of voters who remain undecided.
But even as Democrats plan to celebrate their sense of unity around Harris’s ascension, the area outside the convention hall will showcase some persistent divisions.
Protesters have promised to bring tens of thousands of people to Chicago to denounce the war in Gaza and the Biden administration’s support for Israel — plans that began while Biden was still running and have continued even as Harris has tried to offer a more empathetic tone about the plight of Palestinians.
Harris’s aides plan to use the convention both to introduce her to the public and to draw a contrast with Trump, said Michael Tyler, communications director for the campaign.
The event will feature top Democratic leaders, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee. Several major celebrities are expected to attend, a sign that Harris may be able to create the kind of cultural movement that eluded Biden.
And even as party leaders plan to celebrate their improved political standing under Harris, officials hope to deliver the message that the contest against Trump remains close.
“You look at the state of polling, and obviously, things look good right now, but this remains a margin-of-error race,” Tyler said. “And we know that it’s going to come down to tens of thousands of votes in a handful of states.”
The made-for-television convention stands as the highest-profile moment thus far in Harris’s truncated campaign for the presidency. In a typical presidential race, a candidate’s most significant moments include the day they launch their campaign, the day they secure the nomination and the day they announce a running mate.
Usually, those moments are spread out over many months. For Harris, they all happened within three weeks.
Trump remarked on the rapidly changed race during a news conference Thursday, criticizing Harris while noting how much her fortunes have improved.
“Six weeks ago, she was considered to be a failed vice president in a failed administration — a disaster,” Trump told reporters. “Now, all these people are talking about her like she’s Margaret Thatcher, liberal version.”
At times, Trump has struggled to focus on policy criticisms of Harris, instead attacking her race, gender or intelligence. His campaign has sought to press his advantage on the economy in recent days, staging events ostensibly designed to criticize Harris over inflation and economic instability.
The former president plans to continue that approach during a speech on the economy Monday in York, Pa., offering some counterprogramming as the Democrats’ convention kicks off.
“Kamala Harris says inflation will be a ‘Day One’ priority, but her ‘Day One’ was three and a half years ago,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement announcing his speech. “The Harris-Biden Administration created inflation, putting Kamala in charge won’t do anything different to fix it.”
The Trump campaign’s focus on inflation comes at an awkward time: The headline inflation number dropped to its lowest level in three years last month, and unemployment has remained relatively low for most of Biden’s term, facts Democrats have been highlighting ahead of their convention.
In recent days, Harris has begun outlining some of her policy proposals, including a $25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers, a ban on price gouging on groceries and a child tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child in the first year of a baby’s life. The convention — where parties traditionally lay out their platform — will offer a high-profile opportunity for her to explain how her presidency would differ from Biden’s and what she hopes to accomplish if elected. Before her acceptance speech on Thursday, Harris is planning to launch a bus tour in Pennsylvania on Sunday and hold a rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
In Chicago, Harris will face the delicate task of celebrating Biden’s accomplishments while trying to distance herself from the low marks he has received from voters on inflation, immigration and other top issues.
Republicans have sought to tie Harris to Biden and paint her as an even more liberal candidate, often pointing to the positions she embraced during her unsuccessful presidential campaign five years ago. Harris has since disavowed many of those positions, including support for Medicare-for-all, a ban on fracking and mandatory buybacks for assault rifles.
Speaking in North Carolina on Friday, Harris tried to lay out her own vision for improving the economy, proposing programs to eliminate medical debt and cap prices for prescription drugs.
“We know that many Americans don’t yet feel that progress in their daily lives,” she said, after touting the economic gains made since Biden took office. “Costs are still too high and on a deeper level for too many people, no matter how much they work, it feels so hard to just be able to get ahead.”
That sentiment — which formed the theme of much of the Republican convention last month — was one reason polls showed Biden trailing Trump for much of the past year. Biden’s stumbling debate performance on June 27 — an unusually early date that was intended to help improve his standing against Trump — reignited Democratic fears that the president was on track to lose the race. Post-debate polls showing Biden falling further behind Trump both nationally and in swing states led top Democrats to urge the president to step aside.
Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris has created the first major shift in the race toward Democrats, with polls showing the vice president now leading Trump nationally and in several swing states.
Biden’s exit from the race also changed the nature of the convention Democrats were planning. Aides have spent the past few weeks creating programming and advertising around the biography and vision of Harris, replacing what was once designed as a celebration of Biden’s journey from Scranton, Pa., to the White House.
But Democratic attacks on Trump are unlikely to change much.
“The fact of the matter here is that our opponent remains the same in Donald Trump,” Tyler said. “The threat remains the same in Donald Trump. The extremism that he wants to enact on the American people remains the same.”
