CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the 2024 election, where Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention looked a little like a Friday night (with a high school football team and lots of pigskin talk) and even a Saturday night (with an SNL star).<\/p>\n
(Make sure you are subscribed to this newsletter here. You can also hear my analysis on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We\u2019re doing new episodes of the Campaign Moment podcast all week.)<\/p>\n
Night 3 of 4 at the Democratic National Convention is in the books. Democrats used it to road-test some messages on some of their most problematic issues, while we got much-anticipated speeches from former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the man she helped create a job opening for: Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz.<\/p>\n
Below is the third installment of my takeaways from the convention, which concludes Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepting the nomination for president.<\/p>\n
1. Walz brings home the \u201cfreedom\u201d theme<\/p>\n
All week at their convention, Democrats have been trying to lay claim to the patriotism mantle after decades of largely ceding that territory to Republicans. The symbols and chants are everywhere. The anthem of the convention is Beyonce\u2019s \u201cFreedom,\u201d a song about liberation.<\/p>\n
In accepting the Democratic vice-presidential nomination Wednesday night, Walz sought to tie it all together.<\/p>\n
The overriding theme of the Minnesota governor\u2019s speech was the title of that song. He mentioned \u201cfree\u201d or \u201cfreedom\u201d a dozen times. He pitched Democrats as the protectors of it and Republicans as meddling in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Republicans use the word \u2014 freedom \u2014 they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor\u2019s office, corporations free to pollute your air and water, and banks free to take advantage of customers,\u201d Walz said. \u201cBut when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love, freedom to make your own health-care decisions and, yeah, your kids\u2019 freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot dead in the hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walz painted Donald Trump and GOP vice-presidential nominee JD Vance as not just \u201cweird,\u201d but weird in a way that infringes upon people\u2019s lives by taking away their economic and health-care freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know if these guys get back in the White House, they\u2019ll start jacking up the costs on the middle class,\u201d Walz said. \u201cThey\u2019ll repeal the Affordable Care Act, they\u2019ll gut Social Security and Medicare, and they will ban abortion across this country with or without Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walz pitched Harris as the antidote.<\/p>\n
\u201cKamala Harris is going to cut your taxes,\u201d he promised. \u201cIf you\u2019re getting squeezed by prescription drug prices. Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you\u2019re hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Separately, one of the moments sure to have people talking was when Walz\u2019s son, Gus, who has a nonverbal learning disorder, tearfully stood up and exclaimed, \u201cThat\u2019s my dad.\u201d)<\/p>\n
It was a specific version of freedom \u2014 a populist one \u2014 delivered by a candidate brought to the ticket for that kind of appeal. But he wasn\u2019t the only one to play it up.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) spoke about \u201creal freedom\u201d that comes from investment in schools, infrastructure and communities. Oprah Winfrey intoned, \u201cFreedom isn\u2019t free,\u201d and that \u201cit takes hard work and heart work.\u201d Many speakers have cast reproductive rights \u2014 a major issue in Democrats\u2019 favor right now \u2014 in terms of freedom. And the Harris campaign debuted an ad, \u201cWe believe in freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of it all, of course, Walz departed to Neil Young\u2019s \u201cRockin\u2019 in the Free World.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. A muted moment for the highly consequential Pelosi<\/p>\n
Perhaps nobody has quietly loomed over the convention this week like Pelosi. Her role in nudging aside President Joe Biden helped create the enthusiastic and optimistic spectacle we\u2019ve witnessed, but it has been the source of some internal tensions. Pelosi has occasionally been terse when asked about the subject and has offered no apologies. And her relationship with Biden and his team appears strained.<\/p>\n
Pelosi spoke only briefly, with little sign of any hard feelings from her or the crowd.<\/p>\n
She took care to praise Biden\u2019s presidency, calling it \u201cone of the most successful presidencies of modern times.\u201d But she notably prefaced that by tying it to \u201cthe inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris\u201d \u2014 playing up Harris\u2019s role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you, Joe,\u201d Pelosi said after listing the administration\u2019s accomplishments. \u201cAnd I know that Vice President Harris is ready to take us to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Democrats threaded the needle on Gaza<\/p>\n
Democrats have spent much of the week treating the war in Gaza \u2014 perhaps their most divisive issue internally \u2014 gingerly. It had received only fleeting mentions over the first two days, as pro-Palestinian protests took place outside the convention, and the party has split between the Palestinian and the Israeli causes.<\/p>\n
But Democrats leaned in Wednesday, seeking to thread the needle \u2014 and seemingly succeeding for the moment.<\/p>\n
One of the night\u2019s most poignant moments came when the parents of a hostage held by Hamas, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, spoke about their plight.<\/p>\n
Jon Polin, the father, asserted that Biden and Harris were working hard to return the hostages and reach a cease-fire deal. He noted that the hostages spanned many nationalities and religions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an inflamed Middle East, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region: a deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza,\u201d Polin said.<\/p>\n
In a sign of how unifying the message was, Polin\u2019s comment earned applause from one of the House\u2019s most pro-Palestinian members, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). The crowd ultimately chanted of the hostages, \u201cBring them home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speakers have regularly mentioned freeing the hostages alongside a cease-fire \u2014 combining the priorities of the two sides of their split party. And thus far, the issue hasn\u2019t boiled over in nearly the way Democrats had feared it might.<\/p>\n
4. An attempt to flip the script on the \u201cbroken\u201d border<\/p>\n
Speaking of issues being massaged, Democrats also placed newfound emphasis on border security \u2014 an issue that has been one of Biden\u2019s worst and has threatened to derail Democrats\u2019 hopes. Republicans have sought to connect the issue to Harris, misleadingly calling her the \u201cborder czar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats mostly played up Trump\u2019s role in torpedoing a bipartisan border deal earlier this year. But they also sought to tie the nation\u2019s proud immigrant past and pathways to citizenship \u2014 things they have long emphasized \u2014 to an increasing rhetorical emphasis on getting tough on illegal crossings.<\/p>\n
More than a half-dozen speakers broached the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: The border is broken,\u201d Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) said before pitching Harris as a \u201cjoyful\u201d warrior who would \u201cwork across party lines to secure our border, to treat people like human beings and to move our country forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Tex.), who represents a border district, joined others in accusing Republicans of rejecting the deal and previous attempts at immigration reform for political purposes \u2014 in the most recent case, to keep the border chaotic ahead of the 2024 election.<\/p>\n
Bexar County, Tex., Sheriff Javier Salazar\u2019s recounting of the horrors of cross-border human-trafficking \u2014 \u201cdesperate, terrified, gasping for air\u201d \u2014 would have sounded just as at home at a Republican convention.<\/p>\n
Salazar (D) then added: \u201cWhen Donald Trump comes down to Texas, stands next to officers in uniforms just like mine, he\u2019s not there to help us. \u2026 Just like when he killed the border bill, he just made our jobs harder. Now, Kamala, on the other hand, has been fighting border crime for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) even promised Harris would bring the border bill back up and pass it.<\/p>\n
\u201cKamala Harris has been tough as nails when it comes to securing our border,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cWhen she was a California prosecutor, she went after drug smugglers, human traffickers. She put 100 gang members away in a single sweep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually passing that bill, sponsored by a Republican, Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), will prove difficult after other Republicans turned against it en masse. But the border appears somewhat less salient of an issue right now than it once seemed, amid a four-year low in illegal border crossings.<\/p>\n
5. There were plenty of choice lines<\/p>\n
Bill Clinton: \u201cWhat does her opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don\u2019t count the lies. Count the I\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D): \u201cI got a message for the Republicans and the justices at the United States Supreme Court: You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand. And I\u2019m retaining a lot of water, so good luck with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d star Kenan Thompson, while holding an oversize prop copy of Project 2025: \u201cYou ever seen a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Here it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan (R): \u201cThese days, our party acts more like a cult \u2014 a cult worshiping a felonous thug. \u2026 Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you\u2019re not a Democrat; you\u2019re a patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens if Kennedy endorses Trump?\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span> CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the 2024 election, where Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention looked a little like a Friday night (with a high school football team and lots of pigskin talk) and even a Saturday night (with an SNL star). (Make sure you are subscribed to this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cWith six words, Michelle Obama rewires America\u2019s conversation on race\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cPelosi makes no apologies at DNC for her role in Biden\u2019s ouster\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cPro-Palestinian delegates will not get a speaking slot at convention\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cHarris upended Trump\u2019s electoral fortunes. Just look at North Carolina.\u201d (Politico)<\/span>
\n\u201cHarris Fundraising Shows Huge Cash Increase After Biden Left Race\u201d (Wall Street Journal)<\/span>
\n\u201cHow Kamala Harris Is Trying to Claim the Mantle of Change\u201d (New York Times)<\/span><\/p>\n