Democrats buoyant as convention opens

Protesters will congregate outside a well-guarded perimeter, so Democrats don’t expect serious disruptions to the convention itself — but are nevertheless concerned about “optics,” Semafor’s David Weigel noted: “Protests make for good footage. Protests that devolve into clashes make for even better footage… It doesn’t need to be that bad to create problems,” he argued. The party is also “on guard” for disruptions to high-profile speeches inside the conference, Reuters reported: “A convention is a political engagement vehicle… If we’re not using it for that, then it’s just a beauty pageant,” a delegate from the separate Uncommitted movement, which is lobbying the Democratic Party to change its policy on Israel, told the outlet.

Harris missed out on the “testing ground” of a contested primary and the opportunity to “sharpen” her messaging, The Atlantic wrote — so the convention could give her the chance to further sketch out a substantive policy agenda. Chicago — a safe haven of abortion care in the Midwest — also offers the Democrats a kind of “in-built storyline” about reproductive rights, a communications strategist told Al Jazeera, while its “City of Big Shoulders” reputation could allow the Harris campaign to tout its pro-union credentials. But perhaps crucially, Chicago ’24 will be nothing like Chicago ’68, the editor-at-large of The American Prospect argued: The Democrats are united, and the Gaza war simply doesn’t dominate Americans’ thoughts as the war in Vietnam did.