Chicago – On The first day of Kamala Harris's Democratic nominating convention kicked off in Illinois on Monday, just two months before the country is supposed to find out whether she or former President Donald Trump will be the next leader of the free world.
But for most of the party’s members gathering in Chicago this week, this isn’t the start of any Democratic National Convention. After all, these conventions typically last four days, filled with late-night corporate festivities, Hollywood celebrities, and (most importantly) free booze.
This year, things are different—or more dramatic. The convention marks the official starting point for the general election battle against Trump—and as one Democratic lawmaker on Capitol Hill heading to Chicago put it: Rolling Stone – “The fight of our damn lives.”
“I was at an event in my area a couple of days or so after the election of President [Joe] “Biden dropped out of the race, and I was with the area delegates and volunteers and organizers,” recalled Michigan Democratic Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who was in Chicago for the convention. “And there was one organizer who said, ‘A few days ago, I was ready to do the work, but I was sad about it. But now I’m ready to run through a damn wall.’” “It’s a shift in the atmosphere.”
Among liberal activists and prominent figures working to push Trump out of the Oval Office and put Harris in it, the term “the fight of our lives” is actually a popular one, especially in the month that Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. It’s unfortunate that describing every U.S. presidential election as “the most important election of our lifetimes” has become an annoying cliché in political and media circles.
But this time, the stakes were immeasurably higher. Trump and Republicans had repeatedly vowed that they would move quickly to implement an overtly extremist, authoritarian, and vindictive agenda if the twice-impeached former president and convicted felon returned to power. And before Biden dropped out, spurred by a flood of party anxiety about his age and mental acuity, national and swing-state polls had consistently predicted doom for Democrats.
In the months leading up to the Chicago conference, Rolling Stone We spoke with several senior Democratic officials, donors, and activists about their feelings about the then-scheduled Chicago meeting.
Words like “funeral,” “depressed,” “despair,” and “nightmare” were common, and with Biden at the top of the list, some were almost resigned to another Trump era.
But then Biden dropped out of the race. He quickly endorsed Vice President Harris, and Democratic heavyweights quickly rallied behind her as the new presumptive nominee. The polls remain close, though Harris has seen a surge in support and enthusiasm that has alarmed Trump and angered some of his previously overconfident allies. It has also given the Democratic elite a sudden boost of hope that Trump’s return to power is not, in fact, inevitable.
Whatever happens in November, the mood among the party's top leaders and rank and file at the Chicago convention this week couldn't be further from the mood previously expected.
As the Harris-Walz campaign emerges, the feeling among Democrats and the vice president’s aides is that they are now locked in a long-running barroom battle against Trump and his hordes of Trump supporters. Both sides are ready for a fight. to the maximum The Democratic Party is, in fact, shedding all its filth. Or, as one Democratic Party operative recently put it, “collectively shedding the stench of… ‘When they go low, we go high,’” a rallying cry of liberals in 2016 that didn’t work for them.
“Finally, it feels like we’re doing what Michigan Republicans have always done — standing in line and recognizing the mission. It feels very different from previous elections… It’s an existential crisis now, in ways that Democrats are realizing that we can’t afford not to stand in line and move forward at full speed in unison,” adds McMorrow, a state senator from a crucial battleground. “At this moment, people know what’s at stake, and we don’t need the party to tell us what’s at stake… But we do need to be energized and excited about it. People want to feel like they’re winning and that we’re on the winning team.”
As for what’s at stake in this election, Trump isn’t just fighting for his political legacy. Given the raft of criminal charges and multiple trials that await him on the other side of this election year, the odds of him seeing actual prison time would rise dramatically if he loses to Harris.
And if Harris loses, the chances of prominent Democrats being criminally investigated or prosecuted by the Trump administration, as part of outright acts of corruption and retaliation, will also rise significantly.
“I think I sometimes sound like I’m alarmist when I say democracy is at stake — but I really do … because you have a man who I think wants to reshape our government to his will, and he’s going to lead like an autocrat,” said Sarah Matthews, who was one of Trump’s deputy White House press secretaries.
“I’m someone who has worked in Republican politics my entire career and I grew up in a really conservative family, but for me, I think this election is much bigger than politics,” she says. “So even if I disagree with Vice President Harris on policy, I’m willing to put that aside.” [and vote for her] “Given the threat I think a second Donald Trump term would pose… someone like him should be as far away from the Oval Office as possible.”
