Consider This from NPR - Looking ahead to the DNC, the Harris-Walz campaign prepares for a defining moment

Episode Date: August 18, 2024

The state of the presidential race is a far cry from what it was just a few months ago. Vice President Kamala Harris's rise to the top of the Democratic ticket has sparked waves of excitement, and some tension, among democratic leaders and voters across the country. Thousands of delegates now head to Chicago for the party's convention this week, where Harris is expected to deliver the biggest speech of her political career to date. NPR's Adrian Ma speaker with co-host Ari Shapiro, about how this moment couple shape her campaign to the nation. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Turned back the clock just a couple of months ago, and the shape of the presidential race was feeling pretty familiar. Former President Trump in a dead heat with President Biden less than five months from Election Day. Polling find President Biden and former President Donald Trump running neck and neck among likely voters. National poll finds that former President Trump and President Biden are statistically tied. It was feeling a lot like the 2020 election. The same two candidates locked in a tight race. Until... A disastrous debate performance from President Biden sent his campaign into a tailspin.

It was painful. I love Joe Biden. I work for Joe Biden. He did not do well at all. 28 percent. I have never seen numbers this bad for an incumbent president during my lifetime. I mean, that mental health to be president. Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries, both pushing the party to delay the nominating process. What began as a slow drip turned into an avalanche of calls from leaders in the president's own party for him to step aside. Then a moment many consider to be the nail in the coffin for Biden's campaign. An interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe with former Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, where she said, quote, it's up to the president to decide

if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. Days later, Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. And then things went coconuts. In just one week, the Vice President Harris campaign for Harris campaign for president has raised two hundred million dollars and brought on more as a continuation of what you've seen out on the trail, which is momentum for Kamala Harris. Look at all this blue on this side of the screen. Pennsylvania Harris by four. Wisconsin Harris by four. Michigan Harris by four. To say Democrats are energized doesn't even begin to describe what's happening. The Democratic Party quickly rallied around her as their new nominee, and suddenly the presidential race went from very familiar to totally unpredictable.

Consider this. As Vice President Kamala Harris heads to a very different Democratic National Convention than what was planned just a few weeks ago, how will these next few days shape the rest of her campaign? From NPR, I'm Adrian Ma. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adrian Ma. Thousands of people are on their way to Chicago today for the Democratic National Convention. And that includes Consider This co-host Ari Shapiro, who's going to be on the ground covering all four days of the DNC. And he joins us now on the road to Chicago, or maybe I should say the railroad. Ari, tell us where you are right now.

That's right. I'm on the Amtrak from the city of Milwaukee to the city of Chicago with the Wisconsin delegation. And you can think of this as kind of like a metaphorical baton pass because Milwaukee is the city that hosted the Republican National Convention last month. Chicago is hosting the DNC this week. And it also shows you the electoral importance of this part of the country, that both parties are holding their conventions in this region. These delegates are some of the more than 3,000 who are expected to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris this week to officially make her the Democratic nominee. But there's some of the proud few that are from the swing states that might actually decide this election. Okay, so you've been walking around talking to these delegates. Can you introduce us to one of them?

Yeah, let me introduce you to Chris Walton. He is former chair of the Milwaukee County Democratic Party. He is 35. He told me he's been active in politics for about 20 years. And as we were waiting to board the train, he told me this moment feels to him like Christmas Eve, the Super Bowl, and a family reunion all rolled into one. That's a lot of action, okay? A lot of action, a lot of excitement. And especially, he said, since Biden ended his re-election campaign, he felt the energy reach a crescendo that he said reminds him of his first election casting a vote for president, which was when Obama first ran in 2008. The energy, everybody's so excited.

Just seeing so many people actually coming out, people who never really discussed politics before, suddenly this is an everyday topic that people, everybody was engaged in. That said, Adrian, I've been surprised at the number of people who told me it was hard for them to see Biden step down. Some of them said they shed tears over it and it took time for them to come around to this new reality. Yeah, I guess this points to the whiplash that Democrats have experienced this election cycle, right? I mean, they went from having an unpopular incumbent in President Biden to now having Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket with Tim Walz as a running mate. So how much do you expect this shift at the top of the ticket to change the dynamic of the convention? Well, that's really one big reason we wanted to be here.

This presidential race became so unpredictable so quickly. It went from this kind of rerun to the drama of an assassination attempt against former President Trump to the change at the. The campaign in its first days broke records for fundraising and volunteer signups. But this week in Chicago, we are going to see for the first time what that looks like when people from across the country gather in person. Beyond the big speeches, the week is full of workshops and panel discussions. One we're going to go to that struck me is called Protecting Future Generations, the Power of Reproductive Rights and Gun Safety on the Ballot, which I found interesting because historically, Democrats have not always viewed those issues, reproductive rights and gun safety, as key to winning elections. And right now they are putting it front and center, which I think shows a real evolution in the party. Interesting. OK, so the party seems more unified than it was

just a month ago. But the scene around the convention may not be totally harmonious, because some protests are expected, right? That's right. The first big one is expected Monday afternoon. We are going to attend this coalition of pro-Palestinian groups that are organizing people to protest the Biden administration's support for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. That could be the first of many protests this week. Something else we are keeping an eye out for is whether red state governors send buses of migrants from the border to Chicago. I have to pause because the conductor just came to grab our tickets. One second. I'm sorry.

Do you have them on there? Okay. This is journalism from the road. Did the conductor give you any side eye for trying to do a broadcast on the train no he just he just politely said could i see your tickets um oh so we're looking to see whether red state governors send buses and migrants to chicago which is something that in the past they have done to call attention to immigration policies of the biden administration that's been one of the big critiques of the Republicans against Harris. And so Chicago organizations that provide services to immigrants

are preparing extra beds just in case. So lots expected to happen outside the walls of the convention center. Let's turn to what we can expect to happen inside. What's on the DNC agenda? Well, the highlight, of course, is that current and former presidents are expected to speak, followed by one presidential hopeful. Of course, I'm talking about Joe Biden speaking tomorrow night, and then Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, also Hillary Clinton. They will all be speaking Thursday night is the big address from Vice President Harris. And it is not an exaggeration to call that the biggest speech

of her political career to date. But there's also a lot happening on the sidelines. Like one interesting detail that tells you something about the way this campaign is being fought is that for the first time, the DNC has given credentials to a couple hundred social media content creators. Here's how conference organizers describe that effort in a promotional video. Content creators are trusted voices in their communities, so we are leveling the playing field between creators and traditional media to ensure more Americans than ever before can take part in the democratic process. So we're going to spend some time with one of them to see how they are shaping the narrative that's coming out of Chicago this week. Fascinating. Okay, look forward to that.

Before you go, any other stories you're working on this week that you can just give us a little sneak peek of? Yeah, I'll give you a preview of one, which is that until she became vice president, all the campaigns that Harris won were in solidly blue liberal areas. San Francisco, California. We're going to look into what it takes for Democrats to win in purple and even red areas that Kamala Harris is going to have to do well. And if she wants to make it to the White House, one Democratic campaign manager and strategist who's thought about that a lot is named Eric Hires. He helped Democrats win

governor's races in Kentucky and Montana, states that overwhelmingly went for Donald Trump for president. I asked him what the secret ingredient is. And here's what he told me. I think one, and this is very, very basic. And it sounds easy, is just show up, right? It's just show up in some of these communities, and I'm talking about rural areas, areas that normally vote for Republican candidates. Just show up, and not just once, but again and again and again, to show them that they matter, to show them that you care what's happening in their lives, and that you're in touch with them. But Adrian, having covered conventions before, I can tell you the thing I most anticipate

is that there will be an unexpected moment, a speaker, a turn of phrase, some development out of left field that is not on anybody's radar today, and we will be here to cover it. And we look forward to that. Ari Shapiro, co-host of All Things Considered, on the train from Milwaukee to Chicago for the DNC. Thanks, Ari. Thanks, Adrian. Good to talk to you. This episode was produced by Mia Venkat, Michael Levitt, and Avery Keatley,

with audio engineering by Simon Laszlo Jensen. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adrian Ma.