Takeaways from Night One of the DNC

On August 19, 2024, the first night of the Democratic National Convention kicked off. When just weeks ago, Democrats had been in despair over their then-nominee Joe Biden’s debate performance and possible senility, now the party expressed a unified front for Kamala Harris. Enthusiasm for the vice president’s candidacy is sky-high among the Democrats, and last night’s proceedings certainly conveyed that message. The night not only featured Harris’s debut as the nominee but also President Biden’s farewell to the party after more than 50 years in the public realm. This article will detail the highlights of last night’s proceedings.

Notable Moments

Day One of the DNC focused on a people-centered message, following its theme of “For the People”. Early speakers of the night included Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, who caught the audience’s attention by bringing a large book about Project 2025 and warning about its contents. What exactly is Project 2025? My deputy editor detailed that in this article.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivered a particularly uninspiring speech, which made me understand better why she only won New York – a solid blue state – by only six points in 2022. As if to rally the audience again after that dreadful speech, Kamala Harris herself made a surprise appearance, thanking Joe Biden for his service, to which the crowd briefly chanted “Thank you, Joe”. 

Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors, also spoke. He had been a late addition to the speakers’ list and mostly used his speech to pledge that he would boost voter turnout for the Harris-Walz ticket.

In a more somber moment, three women delivered personal stories about being denied the right to abortion and warning of the realities of the post-Roe v. Wade America Trump’s Supreme Court nominees helped usher in 2022. “A second Trump term would rip away even more of our rights,” said Amanda Zurawski, who nearly died in Texas after she was denied an abortion following a miscarriage. Another of the women, Hadley Duvall, who had been impregnated by her stepfather at the age of 12, slammed Trump: “Trump calls abortion bans across the country a beautiful thing. What’s so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?” Following their speeches, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who had previously been considered as a potential running mate, gave a speech praising their courage. Beshear had won re-election last year in the state that had voted for Trump twice and had run on defending abortion rights.

Shawn Fain: “Trump is a scab!”

Source: AFP/Getty Images

Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, delivered a rousing endorsement of the Democratic ticket, drawing a positive and energetic response from the crowd. Fain’s speech focused on defeating corporate greed and slamming Trump as a “scab”. In a surprising pop culture reference, Fain acknowledged the raucous energy of the crowd by invoking the rapper Nelly (It’s getting hot in here!) and pulled off his blazer, revealing a shirt with “Trump is a scab” emblazoned on it. The UAW president argued that Harris was the best choice for the working class, slamming Trump for having suggested firing workers who go on strike. His appearance marks the latest in attempts by both parties to win over the working-class constituency – a key voting group in the key battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. 

AOC: “I…am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union Buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people.”

Source: AFP/Getty Images

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s last appearance at the DNC involved her delivering a symbolic 90-second speech in support of Bernie Sanders four years ago. Back then, she had been an upstart member of the Squad – progressive House members who had been ushered in often by defeating establishment incumbents and candidates in the Democratic primaries. Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Squad mates, four years ago, were considered outsiders in the Democratic Party. 

Last night though, Ocasio-Cortez delivered a rousing speech to the DNC crowd, who greeted her with loud chants of “AOC! AOC!” – something that would have been unthinkable in 2020. AOC had previously won praise in the past for her effective communication skills, and she used those skills tonight to effectively promote Harris as the voice of working Americans. She detailed her family’s past struggle to pay the bills and her rise to Congress after voters in the Bronx chose her over a ten-term establishment Democrat. AOC expressed hope that the same enthusiasm that elected her would elect Harris in November as well. She slammed Trump as a “two-bit union buster” and told Republican critics who had called on her to return to bartending that she would be happy to go back to that job because “there is nothing wrong with working for a living.”

AOC’s rhetoric in her speech was certainly approved by the Democratic establishment and was markedly different from her past anti-establishment, progressive rhetoric in the past. But it was delivered very well and was well-received by the audience. In my opinion, AOC has a bright future ahead in the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton: “The future is here! It’s in our grasp! Let’s go win it!”

Source: CNN

2016 Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech to an energetic crowd. The first woman to be nominated to be the next President of the United States gave a speech in support of the second. The speech was delivered in the tone that she so desperately wanted to deliver her victory speech eight years ago when she lost the 2016 election in a shock defeat to Donald Trump. 

Clinton drew parallels between her 2016 candidacy and Harris’s present candidacy, noting that Trump was mocking Harris’s name and laugh. “Sound familiar?”, she quipped. Clinton contrasting Harris’s record as a prosecutor with Trump’s criminal record. “As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial.” This moment saw attendees chant “Lock him up!” in an ironic twist of the “Lock her up!” chant Donald Trump supporters had thrown at Clinton during her previous candidacy. Clinton made no comment but nodded her head in response to the chants. 

Clinton implored voters to crack the “highest, hardest glass ceiling”, that being finally electing a female president. She conjured up the image of Harris being sworn in as president, saying “We are so close to breaking through (the glass ceiling) once and for all.” This marks yet another edition of the “passing the torch” theme that had been reflected in Biden’s withdrawal. Clinton had missed breaking the glass ceiling in 2016, and now Clinton would make it a point that this November that ceiling would finally be broken. 

Jasmine Crockett and Raphael Warnock

Both are rising Black politicians in the Democratic Party and were awarded primetime slots at the DNC. 

Freshman Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, Texas, delivered a speech during primetime – reflecting her rising profile within the Democratic Party. That profile had been buoyed by her creation of viral moments on Capitol Hill – her sense of humor and willingness to clash with Republican colleagues had caught the attention of many in the country. She drew a contrast between Harris’s and Trump’s lives and personally advocated on behalf of Kamala Harris’s character. 

Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who also holds the role of senior pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, delivered an address reminiscent of a sermon. He contrasted his election to the Senate on January 5, 2021 (prior to that day Georgia had not elected an African-American senator) and the riots at the Capitol that followed the next day. “We must choose between the promise of January 5th and the peril of January 6th, a nation that embraces all of us or just some of us,” Warnock said. Warnock would then lean on the Christian theme of “love thy neighbor.”

“I need my neighbor’s children to be okay so that my children will be okay,” Warnock says, nearing the end of his speech. “I need all of my neighbor’s children to be okay, poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia, I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine, I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK. Because we are all God’s children. And so let’s stand together. Let’s work together. Let’s organize together. Let’s pray together. Let’s stand together. Let’s heal the land.”

The speeches were well-received by the crowd, and both Crockett and Warnock have promising futures in Democratic Party politics. 

Joe Biden: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.”

Source: NYT

The evening capped off with Joe Biden’s farewell to the Democratic Party as he delivered most likely the last major speech he would ever give to the American people. Observers had previously noted Biden’s slot on the first day as a possible way for the party to get rid of him quickly, and it looked to be that way as the event ran 90 minutes behind schedule, forcing some speakers to be delayed to future days and Biden being pushed out of primetime hour on the East Coast. Regardless, a teary Biden (who was following the emotional introductory address by his daughter Ashley) took the stage and was delayed by a more than 4-minute applause by the raucous crowd. Among those waving We Love Joe signs in the crowd was none other than Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker who had helped force him out of the race.

Biden’s speech was nothing like his disastrous and flailing debate performance – he was powerful and able to stay on track for the most part. “I love my job but I love my country more!” Biden told the crowd. His speech was a collection of familiar Biden speech topics – the need for saving democracy and a defense of his administration’s record. Biden went through his administration’s achievements – $35 insulin, strengthening NATO, appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Biden denounced his predecessor’s record, calling him a “loser” and urging the preservation of democracy. The speech stretched past midnight, defeating expectations that the president would not have been able to deliver it effectively due to the late hours. 

Quoting the song “American Anthem” by Norah Jones, Biden said to the crowd “‘Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you.’” Biden capped off the speech with the all-familiar Bidenism, calling on Americans to “remember who we are – we are the United States of America and there is nothing we cannot do when we do it together.” With that, more than 50 years of public service effectively came to an end.