Democratic National Convention Kicks Off in Chicago With Black Politicians at the Podium

The 2024 Democratic National Convention began with a bang of the gavel by Jaime Harrison, the event’s chair, on Monday evening as night one got underway at the closely-watched event that’s been injected with fresh energy since Kamala Harris took the place of Joe Biden.

Harrison, who was the first African American elected to chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, which he left to take the role at the DNC, gave rousing opening remarks that concluded with a call to “save our democracy with our MVP, Kamala Harris and our coach, Tim Walz!” the energy in the stadium, which was not quite filled to the bleachers with delegates and other attendees, was high as Rep. Maxine Waters was introduced.

Waters, 86, roused the crowd further by sharing an anecdote about civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer, who delivered a famous, harrowing speech in front of the 1964 Democratic National Convention’s Credentials Committee, in which she asked, “Is this America?” Waters then segued to Harris.

“Our nominee is no better leader to marshal us into the future,” Waters said. “Kamala has been a courtroom prosecutor, a district attorney, an attorney general, a United States Senator, Vice President of the United States. And when the dust settles in November and Americans of all stripes have elected her president, I know she’ll be thinking about Fannie Lou… In that moment, all of us, from New York to Pennsylvania to Arizona to California — we can ask ourselves, ‘Is this America?’ And we will be able to say loudly and proudly, ‘You’re damn right it is.’”

Following Waters was civil rights icon Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who has Parkinson’s disease and uses a wheelchair. While Jackson, who ran for president in 1988, is no longer able to speak because of the disease, he was wheeled onto the United Center’s stage alongside his family. The 82-year-old blew a kiss to the crowd, a moment that brought many to tears.

When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a final contender for Harris’s VP job in 2020, took to the podium, she sang her longtime colleague’s praises. Bass, who for 11 years served in the House of Representatives and in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, took a moment to acknowledge Harris’s move as California’s attorney general to create the state’s Bureau of Children’s Justice and spoke of how, as their careers go back 20 years together as California political figures, she even had Harris swear her in as L.A.’s mayor in 2023.

“We knew we were sending a message to young women everywhere that they can lead,” Bass said of that moment last year. “She feels the importance of this work in her bones. When Kamala meets a young person, you can feel her passion, you can feel that in her heart, and you can feel her fearlessness, that she is willing to fight for every child. Trust me, Kamala has done this her entire life.”

In a voice note from the convention floor, delegates overwhelmingly approved the Vice Presidential pick, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, breaking into chants of “U.S.A.!” Meanwhile, “Union yes!” was heard being chanted by the crowd as six heads major labor unions — the AFSCME, SEIU, LIUNA, IBEW and AFL-CIO took the stage. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Kenny Cooper told the crowd that Harris is “bringing back American jobs” and “she’s not afraid to use the word ‘union.’”

One of the few white men on the United Center stage Monday night was Sen. Dick Durbin, who took to the podium and went on the attack against former President Donald Trump, quipping that the “very stable genius” was the first president to leave the office with fewer Americans working than when he took the oath. But State Senator Mallory McMorrow of Michigan doubled down on such attacks, bringing out a large novelty-sized book representing the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump administration, the not-so-secret weapon the Democrats are using to frighten voters away from the GOP. 

“Page 873, it says, quote, ‘Conservatives have long believed in either ending law enforcement activities of Independent agencies or ending their independent status,’” McMorrow said. “That sounds pretty boring, but what it means is that under Project 2025, Donald Trump would be able to weaponize the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents. He could even turn the FBI into his own personal police force.”

This is an ongoing news story, please check back for updates.