It has been a busy few weeks for Democrats in the USA.
Lower than a month in the past, incumbent Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race amid considerations about his age and skill to defeat his Republican challenger and predecessor Donald Trump.
Since then, Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris has emerged because the Democratic Celebration’s presidential candidate, driving a wave of help from broad segments of the get together base and members of Congress.
Harris’s collection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her vice-presidential working mate additionally galvanised Democrats and spurred tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in new donations, in response to her marketing campaign.
Now, the get together is about to assemble in Chicago for the Democratic Nationwide Conference, a convention throughout presidential election years. Democrats hope the conference will function a powerful present of unity, as get together members coalesce behind the Harris-Walz ticket lower than three months earlier than Election Day.
However what precisely does the conference have in retailer this yr? Right here’s what you want to know.
What’s the Democratic Nationwide Conference precisely?
Held each 4 years, the Democratic Nationwide Conference is a gathering to formally choose the get together’s nominees for president and vp.
Democrats additionally vote on the get together’s platform and different procedures, however the conference actually serves as a approach to drum up enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket.
This yr’s conference will start on August 19 and run till August 22 in Chicago, Illinois.
Haven’t Harris and Walz already been confirmed because the 2024 candidates?
Sure — however issues are totally different this yr.
The Democratic Nationwide Committee (DNC) introduced on August 6 that Harris and Walz had been formally licensed because the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.
That’s as a result of Democrats held a virtual roll-call vote earlier this month.
Throughout that roll name, Harris earned the help of a majority of Democratic delegates — individuals who usually forged votes for the presidential nominee on the conference based mostly on major and caucus outcomes.
Usually, the official roll-call vote occurs on the conference. However this yr, the get together opted for a digital roll name beforehand, as a result of Democrats had raised considerations Harris might be left off ballots in Ohio because of a procedural concern.
So is a roll-call vote going to occur on the conference?
In response to the Democratic Nationwide Committee, sure.
However the committee says the vote will likely be “ceremonial” since Harris and Walz have already been confirmed.
Conference Chair Minyon Moore stated on August 6 that Democratic delegates “will have fun this historic ticket with a ceremonial roll name and inform the story of Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, and the Democratic Celebration as we put together to defeat Donald Trump as soon as once more”.
Trump was formally confirmed because the Republican Celebration’s candidate on the Republican Nationwide Conference in July. His working mate, US Senator JD Vance, was additionally named and confirmed on the conference final month.
It’s official! I simply signed the paperwork to certify Vice President @KamalaHarris for the poll as our Democratic Celebration nominee for president.
Let’s make historical past this November! pic.twitter.com/Isymkud833
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) August 6, 2024
What else is on the schedule and who will likely be attending?
Alongside the Democratic delegates and different get together members, Democratic lawmakers are anticipated to participate within the four-day conference.
Whereas a full schedule of audio system has not but been launched, US media have reported that Biden, who endorsed Harris after he withdrew from the race late final month, would be the keynote speaker on the primary night time of the conference on August 19.
Harris and Walz are additionally anticipated to ship speeches. The vice presidential candidate will tackle the gang on August 21, and the presidential candidate will shut out the occasion on August 22.
Organisers estimate that about 50,000 people will descend on Chicago for the occasion.
Is there the rest to anticipate?
Whereas Democrats have largely coalesced round Harris since she launched her push for the White Home final month, she continues to face calls to interrupt with the Biden administration’s policies on Israel and the Gaza struggle.
Because of this, Harris is predicted to face giant demonstrations on the sidelines of the conference, as protesters demand an finish to the struggle and unconditional US help for Israel.
For months, protesters have demanded that Washington cease sending weapons to Israel because it bombards the coastal Palestinian enclave. The Israeli struggle has killed practically 40,000 Palestinians and set off a humanitarian disaster.
The Coalition to March on the DNC, a coalition of activist teams, has deliberate marches on August 19 and August 22. “Democratic Celebration management switching out their presidential nominee doesn’t wash the blood of over 50,000 Palestinians off their arms,” it says on its web site.
“Biden’s whole administration, along with excessive rating members of the Democratic Celebration from all around the nation, has spent the final ten months wholeheartedly supporting the genocide in Gaza with our tax {dollars},” the coalition stated.
“It’s a matter of historic urgency that every one organizations who struggle for the rights of working and oppressed folks within the US be a part of us on this demonstration to face in solidarity with Palestine.”
Chicago is house to one of many nation’s largest Palestinian American communities, and plenty of locals are anticipated to participate within the marches.
Have there been protests at different conventions earlier than?
Completely.
Outdoors of final month’s Republican Nationwide Conference, demonstrators took to the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to denounce Trump and his Republican Celebration for his or her stance on abortion, the Gaza struggle and different points.
However arguably essentially the most well-known conference protest occurred on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in 1968, additionally in Chicago.
Demonstrators rallying for an finish to the Vietnam Conflict tried to march on the conference web site however met a harsh crackdown by 1000’s of police, Nationwide Guard and different regulation enforcement officers.
The violence sowed chaos throughout the Democratic Celebration earlier than that yr’s election, which was in the end gained by Republican Richard Nixon.