DNC, Day 3: Rapid-Fire Speeches and a Harrowing Plea for a Hamas Hostage

The stated theme for the third day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention was set to be “A Fight for Our Freedoms” and the first rapid-fire batch of speakers brought reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the fore. They then tied the GOP and Donald Trump to the ubiquitous Project 2025, with the first set of speakers, primarily women, who stepped up to the podium discussing the topics, which have become driving issues for the party.

On Wednesday, Emily’s List President Jessica Mackler was the first to mention Project 2025, which she quickly tied to the right to abortion care. Under Joe Biden’s administration, but resulting from the opinions of three Supreme Court judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, the constitutional right to abortion care was struck down in 2022.

“Project 2025 is a blueprint for banning abortion in all 50 states,” Mackler told the crows at the United Center. “It would give extremists like Donald Trump and J.D. Vance the power to monitor your pregnancy and even prosecute doctors for prescribing abortion medication. Make no mistake: the threat of Project 2025 is very real. But so is our ability to stop it.”

The speakers early in the evening came to the stage fast and furious, with some speaking for around two minutes on issues traditionally important to the Democrats before praising Kamala Harris and exiting to applause from the crowd: CEO of Boca Latino Maria Teresa Kumar, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (bumped from earlier this week), Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other minor party stars had their moment on Wednesday.

During her time before the massive crowd, Kelly Robertson, the president of the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign, shifted deeper into LGBTQ rights while enthusiastically speaking out against the GOP’s platform.

“Donald Trump wants to erase us. He would ban our health care, belittle our marriages, and bury our story,” she told the crowd. “But we are not going anywhere. We are not going back. Kamala Harris is a champion for LGBTQ plus freedom. So tonight, we’re fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and trans freedom without exception. We’re fighting for equality for all without exception. We’re fighting for joy.”

Later in the evening, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel kept the gay rights theme at the podium, galvanizing the crowd as she discussed Harris’ record as AG of California, which she served from 2011-2017.

“She’s held accountable environmental polluters, sexual abusers… but what really stands out is when she stood up and protected her constituent’s freedoms,” Nessel said. “In 2011, she refused to defend California’s ban on same-sex marriage. She refused to argue that some families should have fewer rights than other families.”

“By the way, Supreme Court, you can pry this wedding finger from my cold dead hand,” she added later to uproar from the crowd.

A potentially conflicting moment came when Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, came to the stage. Hersh is a Hamas hostage whose arm was blown off by a grenade on the day he was taken hostage on Oct. 7 at the Re’im music festival massacre in Southern Israel. With Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza being the key subject of protests surrounding the DNC, the speech from his parents, two of the most vocal family members calling for the release of hostages, might not have gone over well with the audience. Fortunately, the arena fell silent as they told his story.

“In a competition of pain, there are no winners,” Jon said, referring to the massive death toll in Gaza as compared to that of Israelis. The “suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza must end,” he declared, along with the release of all hostages and a unilateral ceasefire.

Instead of being booed or heckled, the parents received a sustained standing ovation when they walked to the podium. “Bring them home,” the crowd chanted, leading Rachel to double over, sobbing.