From chaos to triumphalism: Chicago, scene of the best and worst of the Democratic Party

“Chicago, Chicago, I’ll show you around, I love it,” sang Frank Sinatra with his trademark swagger. Arguably, the Democratic Party feels the same way. It was in the Windy City in 1896 that William Jennings Bryan became the youngest presidential candidate in history, at the age of 36, thanks to a populist speech against the tycoons of the late 19th century. It is where Franklin D. Roosevelt gave birth to the New Deal in 1932, ushering in a golden age for the party that blew up at the 1968 convention amid anti-Vietnam War protests in the streets and an all-out fight among delegates that led the Democrats to a resounding defeat at the polls. It was also city where Bill Clinton brought his supporters to their feet in 1996 to the rhythm of, ahem, the Macarena, on his way to his second term in office.

On Monday, the great Midwestern metropolis welcomed back over 4,500 Democratic Party delegates from across the country to acclaim candidate Kamala Harris (and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz) in a scenario that would have been unthinkable just four weeks ago when Joe Biden announced that he was giving up his re-election bid and endorsed Harris as his replacement. The president of the United States and his legacy took center stage on the first of four days of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) with a prime-time speech. Biden’s plan is to fade away for the rest of the week to hand over the reins to the party’s new captains.

Dawn broke in Chicago with dozens of streets blocked off and hotels packed to the rafters to welcome nearly 50,000 people including pledges, journalists, volunteers, Hollywood celebrities, and social media personalities to the Democratic caucus. A massive police deployment was also in place early, ready to deal with protests called for varying reasons, from climate change to the progress of the economy, but above all over Israel’s war in Gaza. “Our city is really good at this kind of thing,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told a news conference Monday morning, while recalling that his police officers have received intensive courses in “de-escalation tactics.”

The goal is to avoid the spectacle of 1968, when students like historian Michael Kazin, then in his twenties, were brutally harassed by police. “The fact that that violence was broadcast on television enraged millions of Americans in the comfort of their homes,” Kazin, who spent a night in the cells and left town before the convention ended, recalled in a recent interview.

African American delegate Leon Braithwaite, vice-chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, was not at that event, but he is a veteran in these matters: he has attended 11 DNCs, including Clinton’s 1996 convention in Chicago. This time he senses something different: “We are more united than ever, even more than on that occasion,” he explained in the morning in the corridors of the gigantic convention center where meetings are held prior to the big evening speeches, which will include Bill Clinton on Wednesday and are staged, as in 1996, at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls.

“The fact that Ohio rules forced us to vote for Harris before the convention has allowed her to embark on two weeks of intense campaigning, and she comes to Chicago with a big push that will get a new boost here. I think Kamala can win more states than [Barack] Obama,” Braithwaite said. Obama is also expected in the city where he matured as a politician, and where he gave his famous farewell speech as president.

Harris and Walz’s busy campaign schedule in key swing states will include a rally Tuesday in Milwaukee, in the crucial Wisconsin arena, a two-hour drive from Chicago. It will be held in the same stadium where the Republican National Convention took place in July. Before hitting the road again, Walz walked around the various caucus meetings Monday (Hispanic, Black, Native American and Asian American) to rally delegates and underscore the message that the stakes are high this week and that the campaign is confident that Chicago will once again be a talismanic location, the stage on which the best of what the party is capable of will emerge.

“We have 78 days to make a generational difference [in the election],” Walz proclaimed. “This is our moment. We can do anything we set our minds to. We’ll work hard — and I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” And there Walz made reference not to Sinatra, but to Chicago-born singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

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