- Pritzker, once on the short list as Harris’ vice president, has so far been relishing his role as dutiful host. The circumstances surrounding his speech tonight are far from what the ambitious but loyal Democrat likely expected last year when Chicago won the DNC bid. The Tribune’s Dan Petrella has a sweeping profile of Pritzker’s climb to national prominence.
- Former President Barack Obama, whose political career launched in Chicago and who shot to national fame at the 2004 DNC 20 years ago, also takes the stage at the United Center Tuesday night. Former First Lady Michelle Obama — who coined the slogan “when they go low, we go high” at the 2016 convention and remains one of the most popular Democrats in the country — is also expected to speak. Each has come to Chicago in recent months: Barack Obama capped off his presidential center’s museum building earlier this summer, and both returned for the funeral of Michelle Obama’s mother, Marion Robinson.
- Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who was just in town last week fundraising for Harris, will also speak Tuesday. He’s scheduled to appear at 9:30 p.m. but Monday night’s events were delayed by more than 30 minutes. If Harris succeeds in November, Emhoff would become the nation’s first First Gentleman.
Alex Hornbrook, the executive director of the Democratic convention, said the staff has made changes to Tuesday night’s programming to avoid running late again.
“We’re working with our speakers and making some other adjustments for this evening, including beginning at 5:30, to make sure that we stay on track for that tonight,” he said at a news conference Tuesday morning.
At the delegation breakfast, Illinois Dems emphasized their state’s leading role in codifying abortion rights, calling it a model for other states to follow — and one that could elevate Kamala Harris to the White House.
“We’ve already shown the blueprint right here in Illinois,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said. “We’re here on the national stage because of exactly what we’ve done in Illinois — we have protected reproductive freedom. We have become a safe haven for women all across the country. We’re going to keep pushing for this, and we need Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the office in the White House to do that.”
Stratton said abortion rights top any other issue in the presidential race, and overlaps with others.
“The focus on reproductive rights is the economy for women to be able to work, for women to be able to take care of our children, for us to be able to put food on the table. Reproductive rights and the ability to decide what’s best for our bodies is an economic issue,” she said.
Chicago Abortion Fund Executive Director Megan Jeyifo focused on the steady ongoing rollback of reproductive rights, even preceding the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Even under Roe, states were stripping away access in the South and Midwest, people were flooding into Illinois even then and Illinois was taking action,” she said. The state in recent years has enshrined protections for abortions in state law and taken several other steps to protect abortion access.
Jeyifo said Republicans and anti-abortion advocates have “hijacked” the language surrounding the procedure.
“Antis have weaponized shame and fear while we hold on to the truth: Abortion is normal. It is essential, it is healthcare, and it is not up for debate,” she said.
A Cook County judge on Tuesday released two people from custody after they were arrested in connection with the breach of a security fence Monday afternoon near the Democratic National Convention site.
During the hearing at a North Side police area headquarters, Judge Mary Marubio ordered them to stay away from the United Center area for the rest of the convention.
A 31-year-old Chicago man was charged with a felony count of aggravated battery to a police officer. An officer was trying to re-secure the breached fence when the man threw liquid at the officer, hitting him, prosecutors alleged, then threw a crumpled plastic bottle in the officer’s direction that hit a fence.
A 35-year-old Chicago woman was also charged with a misdemeanor for resisting arrest in connection with the breach and released from custody.
Monday was the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and late night hosts had plenty to say about the day’s speeches and the convention’s host city.
Jokes about Chicago got the most airtime on the Daily Show, where correspondent Jordan Klepper engaged in some “regional pandering” for the local crowd and took a quick swipe at the Packers. Klepper mentioned several Chicago favorites, including deep-dish pizza, the Bulls, giardiniera, the El and even architect and designer of multiple Illinois Institute of Technology buildings Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
“Ease up on the pandering. These folks can see it from a mile away, just like the Willis Tower,” Klepper said after host Michael Costa received boos for his own Willis Tower reference. “You suck, you know? Just like the Packers.”
After a Michael Jordan shout-out, Stephen Colbert also highlighted Chicago’s history with party conventions. The city hosted famous conventions in 1860 to nominate Lincoln, in 1940 to nominate Roosevelt and in 1968, when the nomination of Hubert Humphrey was overshadowed by protests and riots. […]
Speeches went long, and several hosts lamented the parade of lieutenant governors who spoke, including Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. The speeches and applause went over so much that DNC officials had to cut James Taylor from the line-up.
“I can understand why they had to cut J.T.,” Colbert said. “I mean, it’s not like he’s the lieutenant governor of anything.”
* AP | It’s Been 20 Years Since Barack Obama Made His DNC Debut. He’s Back to Make the Case for Kamala Harris: “President Obama is still a north star in the party,” said Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who credits the 44th president with helping her become her state’s first Black woman lieutenant governor. Besides Harris herself on Thursday, Stratton said, no voice this week is more integral to stirring Democrats, reaching independents and cajoling moderate Republicans than Obama.
* Axios | DNC makes Teamsters president sweat: Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has been ghosted by the Democratic National Convention after his request to speak this week in Chicago. […] The Teamsters boss became the first-ever union president to speak at an RNC last month, delivering fiery remarks before a party that has a track record of opposing labor movements.
Police and K9’s at the Nobu Hotel in west loop … our news desk received an email claiming a pipe bomb threat at this and three other west loop / near west side hotels pic.twitter.com/SVwKpE7ouP
Proud to announce that we recovered 700lbs of food from day 1 of the #DNC, ensuring it will reach Chicagoans in need. This is more than just a donation; it’s a legacy project, affirming our commitment to sustainability and community care. #ChicagoDNC24#ZeroWaste#LegacyInActionpic.twitter.com/QDkRCX2CR8
* Tribune | Steve Kerr returns to the United Center for his DNC speech: ‘I believe leaders should tell the truth’: Former Chicago Bulls star and current Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday. “I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risk,” Kerr said. “I can see the ‘shut up and whistle’ tweets being fired out as we speak. But I also knew as soon as I was asked that it was too important as an American citizen not to speak up in an election of this magnitude.”
* Tribune | After RV tour championing Democrats, Gen Z activists bring DNC to peers: Sam Schwartz just finished caravaning around the country in an RV for 28 days with half a dozen fellow Gen Z activists. The 20-year-old gun reform activist stopped in 15 districts across 11 states on a mission to get Democrats elected to Congress. On Sunday, he boarded a plane from Palm Beach, Florida, to Chicago to attend the Democratic National Convention with two of his traveling companions: his girlfriend, Emma Levine, 20, and Highland Park shooting survivor Drew Spiegel, 19.
*Crain’s | Playing host or progressive preacher? As DNC kicks off, Johnson tries a bit of both: Johnson’s schedule this week includes events where organizers will push for more federal funding for education, discuss Chicago’s potential investment in a municipally-run grocery store and tout Johnson’s early legislative win on gradually eliminating the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers. The week represents an opportunity for Johnson to prove Chicago’s national image is ready for a makeover and to potentially pump life into what’s expected to be his contentious bid for a second term by showing progressives they were right to spend the energy and resources to elect him.
* NYT | Highlights From Night 1 of the Democratic Convention: In a city where he was supposed to claim the mantle of the Democratic Party for the final time, at a convention where he was supposed to cement his political legacy, President Biden instead passed the torch of leadership, wiping away tears as the crowd rose to its feet in a sustained ovation and chanted, “Thank you, Joe.” The outpouring of gratitude for his decision to step aside and make way for Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to encourage Mr. Biden as he claimed credit for saving democracy, and for much more, in a nearly hourlong speech filled with optimism and a fighting spirit that capped the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
* Sun-Times | From high school football coach to VP candidate: How to tackle all this, Coach Walz?: Anyway, Tim, you were the defensive coordinator for Mankato West High School when it won the Minnesota 4A state championship 25 years ago. Here’s what Lance Resner, a linebacker on that Scarlets team, told the New York Times about how you fired guys up: “Tim came in with a different swagger. We were pretty dog [crap] for a long time.” So what would you do to stop Caleb Williams and the Bears, a team full of expectations but also coming off a pretty dog-poop past?
re Pritzker - he clearly wanted the Veep role, but I don’t think remotely anyone expected any choice by Harris to be as well-received as Walz has been. Good gosh, the positive reception of both the top and bottom of the ticket by Dems across the political spectrum has been surprisingly positive. Is the party actually in array? So he knows that ship has sailed, and with Walz as a next-in-line after Harris barring the ticket performing disastrously in November, that likely shuts down Pritzker’s presidential ambitions in all likelihood. So he’s playing nice, doing his job, promoting his gubernatorial record, and how knows? Future cabinet secretary or Dem chairmanship?
re ratings - oh man, of all the things in the world, having less viewers than the Dems has to be the thing that angers Trump the most.
re Teamsters - the head of the union is really dense as a rock if he remotely thought going against the best wishes of his own union and their allies would remotely be received well. He’s basically the surprised Pikachu meme of a knob doing something that would clearly backfire and then being the only one surprised that it backfired. He’s about as lame duck of a union boss as imaginable.
- TJ - Tuesday, Aug 20, 24 @ 12:40 pm:
re Pritzker - he clearly wanted the Veep role, but I don’t think remotely anyone expected any choice by Harris to be as well-received as Walz has been. Good gosh, the positive reception of both the top and bottom of the ticket by Dems across the political spectrum has been surprisingly positive. Is the party actually in array? So he knows that ship has sailed, and with Walz as a next-in-line after Harris barring the ticket performing disastrously in November, that likely shuts down Pritzker’s presidential ambitions in all likelihood. So he’s playing nice, doing his job, promoting his gubernatorial record, and how knows? Future cabinet secretary or Dem chairmanship?
re ratings - oh man, of all the things in the world, having less viewers than the Dems has to be the thing that angers Trump the most.
re Teamsters - the head of the union is really dense as a rock if he remotely thought going against the best wishes of his own union and their allies would remotely be received well. He’s basically the surprised Pikachu meme of a knob doing something that would clearly backfire and then being the only one surprised that it backfired. He’s about as lame duck of a union boss as imaginable.
- Frida's boss - Tuesday, Aug 20, 24 @ 2:06 pm:
Love the anthem- White Sox don’t make the cut. Middle of summer and no mention, brutal, way to go Jerry.