Why the 2024 DNC Has Me Anxious—and Optimistic

I came to Chicago early because I was anxious. Anxiety has been my go-to emotion during this vibes-based election cycle and one that surely won’t go away through November, regardless of polls looking significantly better for the Democrats. I took a walk through this Midwestern metropolis, surrounded by glittering skyscrapers and enticing shops. On Saturday I arrived at O’Hare, which was decorated with Harris-Walz signs and brimming with cheerful volunteers. Chicago was warm and rainy and filled with tourists. On Sunday, I visited the United Center, the cavernous stadium being prepared for delegates, buzzing with the low-hum chatter of convention volunteers.

The party has gathered here a couple times in the not-too-recent past. At the 1996 convention, where then president Bill Clinton was nominated again, the city’s mayor at the time, Richard M. Daley, seemed set on erasing the memory of the violent 1968 convention, which had occurred under the tenure of his father, the “last of the big-city bosses,” Richard J. Daley. The 1996 convention wasn’t marred by protests, only by an ill-fated video of the convention attendees doing the Macarena. But the 1990s, at least in hindsight, were a giddier, more hopeful time in American life. The Clinton administration benefited from a kind of sunny, if slightly detached-from-reality optimism that Barack Obama—taking the helm amid two foreign wars and on the heels of a financial crash—couldn’t enjoy quite the same way.

Police on bicycles stage for a Pro-Palestinian protest on August 18, 2024, ahead of the DNC.Jim Vondruska

Still, it’s not all good vibes on the streets of Chicago. Some hotels are completely barricaded, reminding me of trying to get into the UN after September 11, and roads are closed off, with long lines of police officers on bikes snaking through the streets. Part of the city resembles a war zone (minus the war), with enormous cement structures blocking roads like a modern-day Stonehenge. Here, there was an eerie quiet and few people, yet plenty of wire fencing and gray concrete, a physical manifestation of the collective anxiety surrounding the convention, the anticipated protests, and this consequential election.

Democrats may be pleased with how well Kamala Harris is polling since ascending to the top of the ticket, but it’s impossible to forget the huge stakes of this election, as another Donald Trump presidency could lead to an unraveling of American democracy in a way many of us never imagined. Harris’s ascension has been the bright spot in what has been a soul-crushing 2024 cycle. She has completely transformed the election, injecting joy and optimism into the race and putting the party in position to truly take on Trump. And yet it hasn’t even been a month since Joe Biden stepped aside and the party quickly coalesced behind her. This is all still so new.

Republicans assure us that this is her honeymoon period. But Harris has proven to be confident, clear-eyed, forward-looking, and extremely comfortable speaking before big crowds on the campaign trail. As I was wandering through Chicago, she and Tim Walz and their spouses were traveling on a bus through the must-win state of Pennsylvania. During a stop at a gas station, Harris took questions from reporters, something that Trump has continually, without evidence, suggested she is incapable of doing. Trump “truthed” shortly after she took questions, asking, “Why won’t Kamala speak face to face with the American people without a teleprompter and just answer some basic questions? It’s really weird.”

Perhaps Trump didn’t see Harris tell reporters, “I very much consider us the underdog. We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people.” Or maybe Trump just tunes out a politician speaking with humility rather than boasting incessantly.

At a party Sunday night, I ran into former CNN host Don Lemon, who is now doing a kind of gonzo journalism. He’d driven from New York to Chicago, interviewing voters along the way. He told me he was shocked at how many Trump supporters he encountered. For a minute, the magic of the polls slipped away. Given that polls are, at best, snapshots of the electorate, it’s possible that Trump voters are being undercounted. It’s hard to shake off the experience of 2016, when Hillary Clinton was seen as the overwhelming favorite heading into Election Day.

The doorway of the Garland Building in Chicago is boarded up ahead of the DNC.Bloomberg

Despite such unshakeable anxiety, there is also something incredibly liberating happening in American politics. Trump has been flailing on the campaign trail, trying to replay the hits as attacks that might have worked on Biden, like questioning his mental acuity, but that aren’t going to similarly land on the 59-year-old Harris. This past weekend, Trump resorted to insisting at a rally that he’s “better looking” than his Democratic opponent. There is an old vaudevillian quality to the 78-year-old candidate’s speeches, though outside of the core MAGA crowd, it seems unlikely that beating listeners over the head with the same old shtick will be effective.

Yes, there is a feeling in Chicago, a vibe if you will, that Democrats are in a stronger position than ever this election cycle, and if anyone can beat Trump, it’s Harris. Even though Nikki Haley is long gone from the 2024 race, one thing she said still rings in my ear, “The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the one who wins this election.” Haley has been wrong about so much, but this, this may be right.