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Before the DNC begins on Monday, let’s quickly recap the events of the past few weeks for the Democratic Party. Less than a month ago, President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. Almost at the same moment, Vice President Kamala Harris became the party’s likely successor. Just over two weeks later, she became the official nominee; the next day, she named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
That timeline means the typical course of a presidential campaign for a first-time candidate is thrown into disarray. But after a summer of surprises and twists, Harris will make the move expected of a Democratic candidate: She will attend the Democratic National Convention. The convention, which has had varying degrees of importance in past presidential elections, could be especially significant this time. Here are three key things to keep in mind as you follow the news next week.
This convention will not be so much about procedural issues, but will focus on refining the policy message of a relatively new campaign.
Major party conventions typically serve bureaucratic purposes: Delegates vote on the party’s nominee, and sometimes candidates announce their running mate (as Donald Trump did at his party’s convention last month). All of this has already happened for the Democrats—Harris was nominated in a virtual roll call in early August, an unusual procedure for the party, and she chose Walz shortly thereafter.
Those watching at home, however, aren’t paying much attention to the proceedings – they’re paying attention to the speeches and political narratives. Conventions serve to unite a political party around a cohesive story. The party strategizes about which guests and what message will appeal to undecided Americans as well as excite the base. Family members of the candidates will try to put a human face on them and help them seem relatable. The full list of speakers has not yet been announced, but President Biden is expected to play a role. There are also rumors and speculation about which celebrities might appear.
Harris will try to reintroduce herself to the American public.
Despite her high profile, many people don’t have a clear idea of who Harris is or what she stands for. My colleague Elaina Plott Calabro, who profiled Harris, wrote last month, “After years of struggling to find her political voice, Harris seems to have finally taken control of her own story.” Harris once seemed ambivalent, even apologetic, about her image as a prosecutor, but now she seems to be beginning to own that part of her past and use it as a point of contrast to Trump’s status as a felon.
Harris lacked the testing ground of a contested primary—she is the first non-incumbent candidate since 1968 to win a major party nomination without a primary—meaning she had no opportunity to hone her message before the general election. As my colleague Ronald Brownstein recently wrote, her relatively undefined image “gives Harris a chance to benefit more than usual from the Democratic convention in Chicago…if she can craft her story in an engaging way.”
The conventions of recent years have not led to drastic changes in the polls. But as Ronald notes, the convention has changed the game at least once in the past: Bill Clinton’s 1992 convention speech helped change voters’ perceptions that he was an elitist, in part by emphasizing his humble roots; after the DNC, he enjoyed a remarkable 16-point jump in the polls. Experts told Ronald that Harris is unlikely to see more than a few points more in the polls, but, he wrote, “she could reach the upper end of the convention jump that is still available in this polarized time.” Harris’ campaign also hopes to reach more viewers than a convention typically has by streaming it on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
The party conference could help clarify the role of political talks in this election.
Harris’ campaign has been criticized for a lack of substantive policy discussions. This afternoon, she presented her most compelling proposals yet: In a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, she laid out plans to combat America’s high cost of living that included tax cuts for young parents, a federal ban on price gouging, 3 million new housing units during her term and a $25,000 down payment for first-time buyers over the next four years. More details on her platform, both economic and other issues, are expected at the convention and in the coming weeks.
With the campaign advanced, voters may be more focused on the big picture and the issues of the campaign than on the specifics that might come up during a primary. In some ways, Harris’s shortened runway makes it easier for her: As my colleague David Graham wrote in a recent article about the unknowns surrounding Harris and her policies, “If Democrats believe Harris can beat Trump, they may not care about anything else, at least for now.”
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Evening reading
A reminder of men’s recovery
By Sophie Gilbert
For a large part of her adult life, Anna Marie Tendler was known primarily as a character in a foreign role. She repeatedly appeared in the stand-up programs of her ex-husband, the comedian and former Saturday Night Live Writer John Mulaney portrays her as a loving but sharp-tongued caricature: a “dynamic, 5-foot-tall Jewish slut,” the “alpha” of the household, the person who planned her wedding and allegedly bullied Mulaney until he gave himself to her…
Tendler was the wife of a culturally popular Wife Guy until she wasn’t. During the coronavirus pandemic, she writes in her new memoir: Men called her crazyIt became clear that their marriage was “falling apart”.
Read the full article.
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Stephanie Bai contributed to this newsletter.
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