Vice President Kamala Harris will complete her coup against President Joe Biden on Thursday night when she addresses the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the dysfunctional gathering of Democrats in Chicago, Illinois.
Harris’s address will cap a monthlong whirlwind since the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July, in the immediate aftermath of which Biden dropped out of the presidential race post-debate disaster after weeks of hanging on forcing Democrats to quickly rally around Harris. The man she picked as her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave a 15-minute acceptance speech on Wednesday evening, which came after keynote addresses on Tuesday from the Obamas–both Barack and Michelle–and Monday from Biden himself.
A sense of euphoria has swept up Democrats in Harris’s first month atop the ticket, but throughout speeches and messages at the DNC top Democrats have consistently warned their party they are not in fact winning this election and have serious work to do if they really want to stop Republican nominee former President Donald Trump. In fact, Walz himself admitted Democrats were losing the election in his short speech on Wednesday, making a football analogy to say Democrats were down a field goal in the fourth quarter with the football and chance to score. So, now, all the attention shifts to the top of the ticket: Is Kamala Harris capable of a Tom Brady-esque comeback victory? Or is she going to choke in the moment when the spotlight is on her?
Tonight’s events will, like the rest of the DNC so far, be tightly scripted so the answers to those questions will not emerge this evening (unless Harris makes a massive mistake or something). But the pressure is building for Harris and Walz to get off the chain and start actually campaigning–they have only done pre-scripted appearances, and never have spoken off teleprompter. So, while Harris’s big night will probably contain the fake “joy” of the rest of the week, the real campaign starts tomorrow.
Vice President Kamala Harris addresses delegates during a livestream speech following a ceremonial roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 20, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another thing to watch this evening will be whether Democrats can get their candidate to the stage for her address before primetime ends. Sure, the networks will keep covering the event live and what not for big speeches no matter how late they go, but the big question is whether anyone is even watching anymore when 11 p.m. rolls around on the east coast. Democrats failed to get their main events–Biden on Monday, Obama on Tuesday, Walz on Wednesday–to the stage in primetime all week. Will they fail again on Thursday? Probably, in large because all the Democrats are laughing at the Harris campaign and senior adviser Stephanie Cutter who has frantically been calling around to them all begging them to shorten speeches. None of them are listening because most of the rest of the Democrats want their own shot at the White House in 2028 which only happens of course if Trump wins and Harris loses.
While the rest of America probably snoozes out on the Democrats as their boring convention drags on, those of us who work in the business will follow the program until its very bitter end. So, follow along here on Breitbart News for live updates with news and analysis throughout the night.
UPDATE 8:46 p.m. ET:
The brother of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the January 6 riots, just spoke in a montage of DNC speakers highlighting various issues.
UPDATE 8:43 p.m. ET:
Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas running against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), is speaking now. He says that in November “I’m going to be beat Ted Cruz.”
“I’m the guy going to turn the Texas Senate seat blue,” Allred says.
Allred is referencing his time in the NFL, where he played for the Tennessee Titans for several seasons.
UPDATE 8:40 p.m. ET:
Steph Curry from the Golden State Warriors is speaking via a video into the DNC right now, aggressively endorsing Kamala Harris.
UPDATE 8:34 p.m. ET:
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) is delivering an impassioned speech about the “climate crisis” arguing this election is all about water and air.
UPDATE 8:16 p.m. ET:
Now, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is speaking.
UPDATE 8:09 p.m. ET:
Beyonce is set to perform this evening at the DNC, per TMZ:
UPDATE 8:04 p.m. ET:
Members of the infamous “Central Park Five” are speaking now alongside Sharpton.
UPDATE 7:57 p.m. ET:
Rev. Al Sharpton is speaking now, bashing Trump repeatedly.
On the surprise speaker front, Bush’s spokesman Freddy Ford says Bush is not speaking at the DNC:
Mitt Romney, the outgoing senator from Utah, also says he is not at the DNC:
UPDATE 7:47 p.m. ET:
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, is speaking now. She is a particularly weak Senate candidate who earlier on Thursday was warning Democrats they do not have an edge in this election. Slotkin focuses her remarks on “national security,” arguing that Democrats would do better than Republicans–even though literally nobody trusts Harris in the room with America’s adversaries on the world stage.
UPDATE 7:45 p.m. ET:
There’s tons of speculation about a possible “surprise” guest like Beyonce or Taylor Swift–but former CNN anchor Don Lemon says the guest could be former GOP president George W. Bush. Trump could be so lucky if that’s who it is:
UPDATE 7:44 p.m. ET:
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) is speaking from the Convention floor on the main stage now. He’s doing the same usual anti-Trump platitudes we’ve become accustomed to all week. This Trump Derangement Syndrome is really tiring.
UPDATE 7:42 p.m. ET:
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson had a giant cow in response to a totally legitimate question outside the DNC:
UPDATE 7:38 p.m. ET:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the mostly Native American senator from Massachusetts, is speaking now at the DNC. She is screaming from the stage about “right-wing extremists.”