What to watch for at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Democrats are primed to celebrate their Kamala Harris-inspired renaissance in Chicago this coming week, less than a month after the vice president’s ascent lifted the party’s election hopes and injected fresh and even happy vibes into a campaign once beset by dread over President Joe Biden’s dismal prospects

Democrats are primed to celebrate their Kamala Harris-inspired renaissance in Chicago this coming week, less than a month after the vice president’s ascent lifted the party’s election hopes and injected fresh and even happy vibes into a campaign once beset by dread over President Joe Biden’s dismal prospects When Republicans gathered in Milwaukee for their convention last month, many supporters of former President Donald Trump were predicting a landslide victory in November. But Biden’s decision to “stand down” just days after the GOP event ended has turned the race on its head. Harris, with newly minted running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, have brought the race to a virtual deadlock, with no clear leader in the most recent CNN poll of polls — and that’s before an expected post-convention bump. Enthusiasm bordering on exhilaration has gripped Democrats as the party’s leading lights blow into the Windy City, with a suddenly beloved Biden — at least among liberal partisans grateful for his decision — slated to begin the hoopla by passing the torch to Harris, the first Black woman to become a major party nominee, who has flown out of the gates with a populist economic message and a renewed commitment to protecting reproductive rights. For all the excitement, though, the campaign and convention planners still face a handful of knotty questions. Israel’s war in Gaza, even as ceasefire talks continue, is now in its 10th month following Hamas’ October 7 attacks. The civilian death toll is staggering, and antiwar activists are infuriated. Protesters are expected by the tens of thousands in the streets outside the convention’s security perimeter — which could create a bizarre split-screen if party leaders all but ignore the matter onstage. Trump lingers, too. He has appeared deeply unnerved by the late Harris-for-Biden swap and largely failed, so far, to mount much of an effective attack on the new Democratic ticket. Democrats have abetted him, Harris in particular, by keeping relatively quiet and allowing the increasingly frustrated former president to write his own bad headlines.